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dudeandduchess · 3 years

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Yakuza!Kyōjurō x F!S/O: Sugar and Spice (Mafia!AU, Modern AU, NSFW Series)[Chapter 5]

Summary: Kyōjurō and (Y/n) meet at a party, only to find out that their lives would change forever— since they had been arranged to be married.

Warnings: Making Out, Dry Humping, Extreme Fluff

Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4| Chapter 6

***

(Y/n) wasn’t a stranger to fast food establishments at all; especially when she was far away from her family at university, and well away from having to keep up pretenses— on the off chance that an off-the-rails paparazzo would recognize her and hound her for an interview.

She liked to partake in the occasional burger from McDonald’s, and the odd fried chicken from KFC every once in a while. But it was the first time that she’d even been to a fast food restaurant while dressed to the nines.

Hell, she was even wearing statement jewelry that her mother had told Rin to make her wear. And that had her gripping her seatbelt even tighter than before; especially as Kyōjurō pulled up right in front of the busy McDonald’s without a care in the world.

As if he owned the road, which he may as well have— what with the wide berth that people and cars had given him.

(Y/n) couldn’t blame them at all; she would have dived for cover the moment that she had spotted the 4444 digits, as well as the little crown at the corner of Kyōjurō’s license plate. But that was before she had come to be engaged to a Yakuza member— the heir of the family, no less.

“Are you serious? We’re eating here?” She didn’t have any qualm with fast food at all— it was just that they were extremely overdressed. And it was already garnering the attention from a couple of pedestrians, which had her sinking into her seat even further.

But Kyōjurō seemed like he couldn’t give two fucks about what anyone else thought, as he unbuckled his seatbelt and didn’t even bat an eye as he got out of the car; rounding it, all so he could open her door for her.

Gentlemanly, and it wooed (Y/n) a little, but it did barely anything to ease the embarrassment that she got from the stares of all the passersby.

“Why, princess? Too casual for you?” Kyōjurō teased, watching with amusement as his fiancée huffed a little while undoing her seatbelt. And, as a little act of rebellion, she ignored his hand and stepped out of the sedan as gracefully as she can— impressing Kyōjurō even more, as she seamlessly rose up without even parting her legs to move.

“In this case, yes. And in case you haven’t noticed, Kyōjurō, everyone has been staring at us.”

“So? Let them stare; it’s the first time that they’d seen someone as beautiful as you.” The Rengoku answered smoothly, taking (Y/n) off guard and making her cheeks bloom a vibrant red from embarrassment.

And, with a soft chuckle, Kyōjurō quickly took his fiancée’s hand into his own— before tugging her towards the bustling McDonald’s for a quick breakfast.

To Kyōjurō’s surprise— and his utter delight— she managed to finish her pancake and sausage meal; before giving his remaining pancake longing looks across the table.

(Y/n) tried to avoid looking at the fluffy pancake, as it was rude to do so, but her eyes always gravitated towards it; her stomach speaking for her and making her mouth water for the sweet treat. After all, pancakes were one of her most favorite breakfast items— if only for the fact that her father had always taken her to get them before school, before he was the Prime Minister.

The faintest of smiles graced her lips at the fond memories that came flashing in her mind; a reaction that wasn’t lost on Kyōjurō at all, especially since it gave her such a soft and ethereal glow that had him completely transfixed.

His mouth would have fallen open, had he not caught himself in time and kept it closed. And, before he could help it, an equally subtle smile tugged up at the corners of his lips— all while he admired the woman whom sat adjacent from him; the woman who was going to be his wife.

“What’re you smiling about?” The question wasn’t harsh at all, it was merely inquisitive, which had Kyōjurō playfully tilting his head slightly and amping up the wattage on his smile.

However, instead of being teasing, he decided to be upfront with her— hoping to catch her off guard.

Which he did, with his answer.

“You. The way you’re the most beautiful person here without even trying...”

(Y/n)’s lips pursed at those words, but the smile that she tried to hide with that action still crept through the tiny cracks in her façade. It completely enamored the Rengoku even more, as opposed to turning him off from her false placidity.

“You’re too much of a charmer, Kyōjurō,” (Y/n) conceded in a somewhat playful tone, before idly taking her cup of orange juice and taking a sip of it— if only to hide her oncoming blush and flustered smile behind the action.

“Only for you, princess.” And honestly, he really meant it; he’d always been charming, but it was only with her that he truly meant everything he said.

***

A two hour drive later found (Y/n) staring in awe up at the tall trees that bordered a two-lane road up in the mountains. They had turned off from the main road five minutes ago, but she had yet to see where her fiancé was taking her.

If she were to be honest, she would say that she was getting slightly nervous. She couldn’t help the reaction though, as it made sense— all because of Kyōjurō’s job’s nature. She had come to like him to a degree, but she had yet to put her trust in him.

After all, she had to be careful, as she had gone into the arrangement with her eyes wide open. His family was cashing in a favor her father owed, and she could never forget that.

But that didn’t mean that she should hate him for it, as she’d come to realize during their breakfast. He wasn’t all that bad, and he was very easy on the eyes— which was an extremely huge plus.

“I hate to ask this so late, but where exactly are we going?” (Y/n) finally piped up, turning away from the seemingly neverending foliage and looking over at Kyōjurō— whom had his full attention on the road.

He didn’t even turn towards her when he answered, “Somewhere special, and somewhere... private.”

The way that the last word rolled off his tongue was packed with so much meaning, that she couldn’t help but feel herself get a little hot under the collar at his double entendre. Still, she pushed for complete placidity, and even opted to cross her legs at the ankles— if only to squeeze her thighs together.

“I’m sure you’re gonna like it there, sweetheart. Best of all, you won’t have to deal with your mother for a while,” Kyōjurō joked with a grin, still not looking at her, but turning to his left before veering the car left.

A sharp gasp escaped from (Y/n)’s lips at the reckless move, only to be truly left speechless when she got an eyeful of the view in front of her. From a break in the foliage, she saw that they were on a cliff face, with a traditional Japanese mansion down below— complete with an expansive garden— and partnered with such a breathtaking view of Saitama’s lush mountains serving as the backdrop.

Not even the sound of Kyōjurō pulling up the handbrake ruined the tranquility of the moment.

She had been to so many beautiful places in the world, but something about the place just seemed so... tranquil. Like it had touched not jusy her heart, but also her soul.

From his seat, Kyōjurō watched in fascination as his fiancée’s expression became even lovelier as the seconds ticked by. She took in the view so hungrily, that he wasn’t prepared for the sheer admiration in her eyes when she turned to finally look at him.

“Is this yours?” She asked softly, her voice barely above breaking a whisper.

And, with a subtle shake of his head, he gave in to his instincts and leaned in closer to bridge the gap between them— cupping her cheeks in his hands and bringing her face in so he could brush his lips against hers. “It’ll be yours too. Soon, Mrs. Rengoku.”

It was only meant to be a quick peck, but Kyōjurō couldn’t help himself and deepened it into a proper kiss; one that had (Y/n) melting right into his touch. She pliantly parted her lips for his tongue, moaning softly against his mouth when he moved to play with hers.

But things didn’t stop there for the couple, as (Y/n) released more of her control and allowed her lover to pull her over the console and right onto his lap. Thankfully, her dress was flared enough to have not ripped when she instinctively straddled him.

It was a tight fit, with her pressed flush against him— as the steering wheel was digging into her back— but she paid no mind to it as she traded kiss for kiss with her fiancé. All the while, the Rengoku’s hands anchored themselves to either side of her waist, kneading her sides before the right one moved down to cup her ass and squeeze it through her dress.

“Fuck, baby, I want nothing more than to fuck you right here,” Kyōjurō hissed, as he hungrily devoured his lover’s lips with open mouthed kisses. He had even taken to nipping at her lips every once in a while to ease the frustration he felt, especially with her pussy pressed flush against the steadily rising bulge between his thighs.

But he couldn’t break his own word— that his cock was a wifey privilege. Because not only would that be embarrassing and needy as hell for him, it would be going back on his word. And if there’s anything that Kyōjurō hated, it was going back on someone’s word— especially his own.

In response to that, (Y/n) began to grind her pussy up against Kyōjurō’s erection; wrapping her arms even tighter around his shoulders, while her fingers buried themselves in his hair. “Do it. Fuck me right here.”

Part of her was surprised at her shameless words, but she couldn’t very well take them back anymore so she decided to remedy her gaffe by being the one to dive in for another open mouthed kiss— if only to distract her lover from what she had just admitted to wanting, in a roundabout way.

Kyōjurō’s cock was throbbing with need at that statement, but he still forced himself to pull away before things could press on to the point where even he would lose sight of his own control. It was the hardest thing he’d had to do in a while, and it was obvious by (Y/n)’s expression that she did not appreciate being rejected once more— which he tried to smooth over with one last kiss to her luscious lips.

“Wifey priveleges, princess. Not until you’re officially mine.”

#rengoku kyoujurou x reader #kyoujurou rengoku x reader #rengoku kyojuro x reader #kyojuro rengoku x reader #kyojuro x reader #rengoku x reader #kyojurou rengoku x reader #rengoku kyojurou x reader #demon slayer x reader #kny x reader #jen writes

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twiceinadream · 3 years

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“It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas.”

Requested: Yup

Request: Mina and her wife celebrating their first Christmas together as a married couple.

a/u: Merry Christmas Eve for everyone who celebrates. I hope you enjoy my newly added addition to “Jiwoo can’t have Christmas without Mina” one shot collection. I hope you all have a great day, I love you all!

Category: Fluff and NSFW

Word Count: 1.9k

Having time off was rare for Mina, but since the company had granted her some extra time this Christmas as a marriage present for you and her. Which you were both determined to make the most of, since it was only seven in the morning and Christmas music was already blaring from every speaker in your house as you and Mina dragged the Christmas tree in from the garage. Letting out a sigh as you set down the tree in the living room, wiping your brow as Mina poked your side playfully.

“Out of shape already Y/N?” You pouted at your wife.

“Am not! You made me carry the bottom half of the tree, which is heavier from the top.” Your small outburst brought a smile to the Japanese girl’s face as she hugged your side.

“I’m teasing baby, you know I love you.” You rolled your eyes in an attempt to feign annoyance but gave in the second you saw Mina’s puppy dog eyes.

Sighing as you melted into her arms, placing a peck on her lips as she smiled, “I love you too. But we should get to work, this tree isn’t gonna decorate itself.” Your wife nodded in agreement as she started heading back to the garage.

“Right you are Y/N-ah. Now set up the tree while I get the ornaments.” You shook your head as you began setting up the stand for the pine that was now going to occupy your living room for the next few weeks.

“Yes ma’am.”

—

-Later that Evening-

Most of the day had been filled with hanging and even breaking a few ornaments in your guy’s haste to win decorating your sides of the tree the fastests which ended with Mina coming out on top since she never backed down from a challenge. Even if it was you, her wife. It only made her ever more competitive.

But she made up for it by tackling you in a hug and pressing fluttering kisses along your cheeks as she murmured how “close” you were to beating her. Which just seemed as her excuse to continue to gloat on her win.

“I could still divorce you, you know.” You said jokingly as you and Mina stood side by side in the kitchen, cookie dough between the both of you as you kneaded it carefully.

Your wife let out a scandalized gasp, “You would never L/N Y/N.” You quirked an eyebrow at her.

“Wanna bet L/N Mina?” In response your wife threw flour at you as you reeled back in shock, “You are so on!”

Mina giggled as she danced around the kitchen island, avoiding your attempts at returning her flour attack as you both painted your kitchen white. Flour and cookie dough laid in splotches all over the counter and cabinets as the food fight finally settled down. Laughter filling the room as you both finally got the cookies in the oven, “We’re a mess.”

You rolled your eyes at your wife’s blatant statement, “Well you started it.”

“And I also finished it.” She stuck her tongue out as you washed your arms in the sink, “I think we should shower.” At the mention of shower your eyes were immediately drawn to your wife’s butt making her shake her head. “Separately, Y/N. I don’t want our house smelling like burnt cookies if we get...side tracked.”

You purse your lips in thought, “Then just wait for them to be done. I promise I’ll make it worth your while.” The teasing glint in your eyes was more than enough to have your wife convinced as she sighed in defeat.

Leaning next to you on the island as you both watched the cookies bake, “I’ll hold you to that.” You turned as you placed a kiss to her temple.

“I hope you do.”

—

-Half an Hour Later-

You tried your best to keep your hands to yourself for the rest of the twenty minutes it took for the cookies to bake. The timer on the oven going off was a godsend as you and Mina carefully set the cookies out on the rack to cool then hastily making your way upstairs to the bedroom.

Before either of you could put a lot of thought into what was happening you had already taken Mina’s sweater off and threw it to the floor as she was working you out of your sweats. Laughter filling the air as the two of you undressed each other, stumbling into the bathroom as you turned on the shower.

You wrapped your arms around Mina’s waist, reaching one hand out to grab the rag that sat on the side of the shower caddy. Lathering it in soap and began passing it along Mina’s body, down to her hip, stopping to gently massage the area. Mina sighed softly and leaned her head back against your body, reaching a hand up to play with stray strands of your hair.

A teasing smile took over Mina’s face as she turned around in your arms, “You should follow up on that promise.”

“Now? In the shower? Where we could slip and die?” You asked dramatically, causing your wife to laugh. A sound you don’t think you could ever hear enough of.

“Please, Y/N. You promised.” Mina pouted as she gave you her best puppy dog eyes as she pressed her lips to yours, her arms crossing behind your neck to bring you closer into the kiss. You gladly returned the kiss, your hands finding their way to the Japanese girl's waist after you tossed the rag back on the caddy.

"Tell me what you need," You whispered the moment Mina pulled back from their kiss. The Japanese girl chewed on her bottom lip, eyes darkening with desire as she took your hands and guided them just below her breasts.

"I need you to stop playing games and just take me already."

That comment alone made you growl, your blunt nails digging into unmarred skin as you gently dragged them up, over her nipples, and up to her neck.

"Are you sure?"

Mina nodded and next thing she knew, she was being pushed against the wall, lips hungrily finding their way across her skin. She let out a choked gasp at the pleasure that danced along her neck and collarbone. She felt the lips begin their descent to her chest before she felt teeth gently tugging at her pink buds, each getting equal amounts of attention.

You kept her eyes on your wife’s face the whole time, watching her reaction with each action you performed. Noticing the small details, the way her eyebrow twitches, the small hitches in her breath whenever you passed a hand over her abdomen, and even the twitching of her fingers as if she itched to hold onto you. As you stood back up and turned Mina around, slowly pushing her forward until the Japanese girl was bent over, hands braced against the glass shower door.

She was about to ask what you were gonna do until she felt a hand snake its way between her legs, gently petting her between her legs, while the other arm wrapped around her middle. A soft moan left Mina as a small wave of pleasure coursed through her body. You smirked and bent over Mina as you began rubbing Mina's clit with varying speeds and pressure, each gesture earning a different sound. Mina whimpered, moving her hips in an attempt to get you to touch her further.

"Tell me what you want, and I might give it to you, babygirl."

Your wife sighed softly and quietly begged. "Y/N, please. I need you in-oh fuck...right there, yes!"

You had taken the moment to swiftly slide a finger into her girlfriend, immediately curling your finger to reach the one spot that made Mina cry out. It only took a few more thrusts for Mina to quietly beg for another finger to be added, to which you gladly obliged.

Mina's back arched and her moans became louder as she panted and gasped at the feeling of her lover's fingers inside of her. It had been a good while since she felt like this. You leaned down and bit down onto Mina's right shoulder, your free hand coming to run your fingers along Mina's lips.

"You're being so good for me, Minari. You feel amazing around my fingers. I bet it feels even better for you, doesn't it, babygirl?"

"Babe...I..I’m about to cum...harder, please, Y/N!"

You chuckled and gently pressed your middle and ring fingers to Mina's lips, slipping between them the moment the international star parted them. She had to bite down on them when a particularly hard thrust against her front wall almost made her scream. She was close and you could tell, as you doubled your efforts. You could almost see your guy’s reflection in the glass, barely making out the blush across Mina's face, her eyes closed as she moaned.

It didn't take too long for Mina to go quiet before she cried out your name as waves of pleasure rocked her body. She hung her head, one hand gripping the arm around her waist, the other forming a fist against the glass; she would usually have some piece of fabric to grasp. Tears pricked the corners of her eyes with how hard her orgasm had hit her and she was glad you were there to catch her when her legs gave out.

Your fingers running through her hair carefully brought her back to her surroundings. As you had moved the two of you to sit on the floor of the bathtub while she recovered from her high.

“Earth to Mina. You okay?” Your voice was laced with concern as you moved to turn off the water raining down on your bodies from the shower. Your wife’s labored breaths slowly evening out as she rested her head against your chest.

“Wow, that was just...wow.” Mina let out a dazed laugh as you placed a kiss to her crown.

“I’m glad you enjoyed it baby. Now let me get you cleaned up.”

—

The night’s activities had finally died down as you and Mina cuddled on the couch. Wrapped in too many blankets as a Christmas movie played on quietly in the background. Neither of you were really watching as your guy’s attention was focused outside the window, watching the snow flurry down as the fire roared in the hearth.

In that moment you suddenly felt your heart swell slightly, like this was one of those moments in your life that felt too perfect to be real. And sometimes you had to pinch yourself to be sure as you glanced down to the weight against you, Mina’s back on your front as you suddenly wrapped your arms around her. Nuzzling your nose into her neck.

“What’s gotten into you Y/N-Chan?” Her tone was soft as she turned her head to place a kiss on your cheek.

“Nothing. I’m just happy.” Your wife smiled at your words as she leaned back further into your embrace. Her right hand subconsciously played with the band she promised to wear on her left hand for as long as she lived.

“I’m glad, Y/N-ah. It’s beginning to look a lot more like Christmas now that we’re together.” Mina grabbed your left hand out of the blanket as she placed a kiss on your ring. “Officially that is.”

You smiled softly as you moved back holding your wife, the lights of the tree danced in her eyes. It looked like billions of unexplored galaxies that you would spend your lifetime searching through, “I couldn’t agree more my love.”

#fortwice #twice #twice imagines #twice prompts #twice oneshot #twice fluff #twice smut #myoui mina #twice mina #myoui mina x fem reader #myoui mina x reader #christmas eve #anonymous #twiceinadream

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erikavixin2006 · 3 years

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Where Lila knows not to mess with the cat's princess.

A seemingly innocent smile appeared on Lila's lips as the girl walked down the streets to her "supposed" self-proclaimed kingdom, her mind swirled with thoughts and plans of taking down a certain half-Asian. Ever since the pig-tailed girl responded confidently to her threat, she began to find certain ways to tarnish the goody-two-shoes reputation. Marinette didn't seem to call her out of her lies anymore, frequently avoiding her. Whenever she got closer to the bluenette, said girl would either walk away, or stand there quietly while she babbled on her lies towards her clueless friends.

Even the mention of the students of Francoise Dupont made her lips twitch into a smirk. How clueless and mindless they are, believing whatever they want to hear, if she cared she would've felt sorry for Marinette, but she didn't. When framing her for theft and bully, most of her friends felt betrayed and hurt, angry even. She would've succeeded in getting rid of a love-rival if it weren't for a certain Agreste.

Adrien Agreste is a famous model, kind and handsome, qualities every woman wants in a man, and also, loved by almost half the population of teenage girls in Paris. Lila knew there were 3 girls after him apart from herself. Chloe Bourgeois, the mayor's daughter, which Lila considered not much of a threat since the girl seemed to show little romantic interest in him, confirming both of them to be just best friends. Next is Kagami Tsurugi, a big threat, the Japanese girl is beautiful and confident, and her mother is good friends with his father, Adrien had dated the girl for a while, only for both of them to break it up, thinking it's best if they stay friends, even so, Kagami had proved to still be very protective of Adrien, disliking Lila once taking a good look at her. Finally, Marinette Dupain-Cheng, the biggest threat, the girl is hopelessly in love with Adrien, always stuttering and stumbling around him, though after a while, she stopped, her confidence increasing rapidly, a trait Lila soon found to be annoying, the half-Asian was supposed to be out of Lila's way when she started going out with Luka, but for some reason the two decided to stay friends, making Marinette a nuisance in Lila's eyes. Lila isn't blind, she could see the obvious love and adoration in Adrien's eyes whenever the bluenette is in his line of sight. The blond was obviously in love with her, and that made Lila's blood boil in anger, she tried to bad-mouthed her in front of Gabriel, but the middle-aged man shrugged it off, already meeting Marinette a few times, deeming her a worthy friend of Adrien once seeing her devotion towards Adrien and her exceptional talent in fashion. And that is when Lila knew she couldn't simply manipulate the man that easily, giving up on that idea, continuing to get on Agreste's Senior's good side, spying on Adrien.

Speaking of the blond boy, her lips turned into a lovesick grin when thinking of him. He is everything she ever dreamed of, rich, handsome, and kind. His name will bring her fame and fortune from all over the world. Just the thought of her hanging off the clueless man's arms while attending worldwide events made her feel giddy. Now that she is on his father's good side, it's only a matter of time before Adrien comes crawling to her feet, worshiping her just like the others. Though she admit the boy isn't as dumb as he seems, already knowing the girl's exceptional talent in lying, as the good-for-nothing superhero called her out in front of him. She hated the spotted hero, finding her a threat to her well-formed lies. But, the hero isn't in her way this time, her plan was to take down Dupain-Cheng, though the girl's friends still think of Marinette as the sweet, kind girl they loved, Lila is going to make sure they think her of the opposite by the end of the day, after all, no one can resist what they want to hear, she will be getting her fame soon. Plastering on a sweet smile, the girl walked into the school, fully unaware of what lies ahead of her.

__________

Adrien Agreste had a feeling that something will happen today, and his suspicions lie on the sausage-haired girl that just walked in the class, her face planted with an all to sweet smile that disgusts him. His first reaction was to look behind, as if fearing something had happened to the girl that he called "Everyday Ladybug" , she's not here, late as usual, sighing in relief, he turned back to the front, lips stretching into a thin smile as Lila practically latched onto his arm after waving to the classmates, her nails digging into his flesh a little too deep, the man quickly shrug her off, uncomfortable. Lila looked a bit disappointed, but quickly put up her act.

'Oh Adrien, I was just wondering if you would help me with yesterday's Physics homework, you know my cousin is a great Engineer in Japan, she promised to teach me all about her research but due to me having short-term memory loss I couldn't remember a lot of the equations,' she spoke in a sickeningly sweet voice. Adrien wanted confront her again, but it's been weeks since he did, and she never listened, he soon gave up, only ignoring her brags and answering her questions half-heartedly. 'I'm sorry Lila, but maybe you could ask Max about it, I'm having some troubles on Physics myself too,' Adrien just spoke a lie, though not a bad one, he was just trying to dismiss Lila, as he wasn't really in the mood this morning. Lila definitely got the message, replacing her frown with a smile, gushing on how polite he is and moving towards her seat at the back.

Adrien's annoyed frown softened once he saw the pig-tailed girl stumbling into the class, dropping her stuff in the process. The girl quickly stood up and ran towards her seat, greeting her classmates on the way. Adrien saw the twitch of Lila's left eye as all of the classmates greeted the girl, smiling all the way. The certain rustle in his over-shirt pocket reminded Adrien to keep an eye on the liar. Plagg, due to certain reasons, had been a little attached to the baker girl, unbeknownst to Adrien that the angel sitting behind him is the love of his life as well as the guardian of the Miraculous Box, but Plagg knew, and he had a certain soft spot for the Ladybug Miraculous holder, if he could he would've cataclysm the terrorist they call Lila already. He kept calm though, the god of destruction knew that a certain goddess of creation would give him a scolding if he did anything to disrupt their holders lives'.

__________

The day had gone well, but once lunch arrives, Adrien knew Lila will strike. He saw Lila planting Chloe's expensive necklace into Marinette's bag. The mayor's daughter is known for her unforgiving behavior, if she found her necklace in Marinette's bag, she will accuse without explanation. His blood boiled as he hid behind the door, he had given Lila many chances, his mother taught him to always be forgiving, and he had done just that, only for his princess to be hurt time and time again, now, he's had it, fuck the high road, he's not Gabriel's Agreste's son for nothing. He watched as Lila smirked in triumph, flipping her brown hair and sashaying away.

Adrien waited until the coast is clear, before quietly walking in the classroom, now wondering why doesn't the school provide any security cameras in the classrooms at all. Plagg merely peeked out from his over-shirt pocket, 'Defending your precious girlfriend aren't you? and you still call her a friend,' he muttered the last part. Months of being Chat Noir had strengthen his senses, hearing Plagg spoke the last part brought a small blush to his cheeks, he didn't deny, only muttering a small, ' I still love Ladybug,' . Plagg merely rolled his eyes, 'Yeah yeah loverboy just go help your princess,' before tucking himself back into his over-shirt.

Gabriel taught his son a little, but he still remembered one of the lectures he gotten, is that to never show mercy to someone who is a threat to you. And Marinette is his sunshine, picturing her unhappy broke his heart, he will not let that happen, ever. Lila needs to learn her lesson, and he will make sure she does.

With a flick of his wrist, the expensive jewelry was fished out of the girl's bag, and without a flicker of remorse in his eyes, Adrien swiftly dropped the necklace into Lila's bag behind. Standing up, he glanced around, making sure no one saw it. Plastering a model smile, he walked out of the classroom, muttering a few words for Plagg to keep his cackling down.

_________

'Hey my dude, where have you been?' Nino questioned, his arm draped around his girlfriend's shoulder. They were in the cafeteria, with Marinette, the girl smiled brightly at the model. Adrien's eyes softened at the sight, as he took a seat beside Nino, replying, 'Oh I was caught up in the class, apparently I mixed up my Physics and Chemistry notes together,' . He glanced to the center, where Lila is surrounded by many students, as she spoke about her "latest" story, one about how she and Ladybug had been hanging out together. Alya would've gone to her side, but when that one time Lila purposely let slip that she knew Rena Rouge and Carapace personally, the reporter then knew that Lila Rossi is a liar. Alya then apologized to Marinette. The four best friends chatted through the lunch hour, and a side Adrien never knew he had is excited for class to be in session again.

__________

Adrien knew Chloe will find out eventually, as her shrieks disrupted everyone in the class. Ms, Bustier isn't in yet, and that gives plenty of time for the drama to be unfold. 'My necklace is gone!' the blond screeched. Sabrina beside her was frantic, searching around the floor for it, and even going as far as going through other's desks to find it. Everyone was silent as she screamed, searching through her purse for it. As predicted by Adrien, Lila spoke up in a timid voice, 'Uhm Chloe? Maybe you could tell us what it looks like so we could help you look for it,' she smiled.

Adrien silently chuckled went Marinette grumbled under her breath cutely. Chloe huffed, ignoring Lila, Sabrina spoke up, 'It's this beautiful Bee pendant, it has the shape of a bee, it's really shiny so I think finding it wouldn't be much of a problem, if you guys could help search for it, it would be great, please?' she clapped both hands together. The class, shrugged and merely started to look around, ignoring Chloe's useless protests of accusations towards everyone in the class.

Adrien's eyes flickered towards Lila, the girl pretended to look around, only for her to put up a fake act. her eyes pretended to lit up, as she spoke up in a small voice, 'I remember seeing that necklace Chloe,'. Chloe placed her hands on her hips, 'Well? Where is it?!' . Lila then pretended to be confused, 'Though I'm not sure why Marinette was holding it earlier,' she then clasped her hands to her mouth in surprised, pretending to have said the wrong thing. The classmates had gasped in horror, and Chloe had screamed towards Marinette, demanding for her to empty her bag. Adrien had to hold in the pain as he watched Marinette's eyes flashed hurt ,confusion and anger. Sabrina walked over to Marinette, muttering a soft apology before opening her bag, dumping the contents out.

The class watched, most of them not believing that their kind Marinette would do such a thing. The search went on for a few moments, as Sabrina shook her head towards Chloe. The blonde girl huffed, 'I knew it, Dupain-Cheng wouldn't have the guts to pull of something like that, so Sabrina, check that girl's bag, or whatever her name is, judging at her tacky clothing she definitely seems like someone who would want to get her peasant hands on my priceless necklace,' she accused, and Adrien had to hide his smile of satisfaction as he watched Lila turned pale, quickly finding up excuses, 'You're accusing me? I...I just want to help Chloe,' she said, her voice trembled a little.

Everyone was either too shocked or too perplexed to step in. Lila is loss at words now, she was sure she slipped the necklace into the bluenette's bag, but Marinette seem surprised too, Lila didn't have time to suspect anyone, as she could feel cold sweat dripping down the back of her neck. Sabrina is walking towards her, and began to reach for her bag. Everyone except the four friends gasped in surprise, as Sabrina pulled out a necklace, to be specific, Chloe's necklace, from the side pocket of Lila's bag. Chloe scowled at Lila, as she snapped her fingers for Sabrina to come forward with her necklace. Most of the students were hurt, while some were even glaring at her. Lila thought fast, she had no time to be panicking now, 'I.. I didn't know how it ended up in my bag, someone must have framed me, please guys you have to believe me,' she sobbed, another act that Adrien and Marinette saw through.

Sweet Rose spoke up, 'Let's give Lila another chance guys? The necklace probably dropped into her bag, and maybe Lila saw wrongly of Marinette, maybe they were both framed?' she spoke softly, and Lila had to sigh through her hands, sweet gullible Rose, so clueless. The rest didn't have a chance to speak up as Ms. Bustier walked in the class, telling everyone to settle down and opening her book to start the lesson. Adrien was satisfied, but he knew Lila wouldn't go down after that, so he decided to keep an eye on her for now. Seeing his princess smile in relief, he knew it was worth it.

Lila simply didn't know what went wrong, she was really sure no one had saw her do it, or did she merely forgot it all? A million questions swirled through her mind. Most of the students still shot her suspicious glances. The girl had no time to ponder on the miscalculations she made, she had to gain back their trust, and she knew just what to do the next day.

__________

'Tikki, what do you think happened today?' Marinette had her chin propped up with one hand, the other holding onto a pen, as she wrote halfway in her diary. Tikki giggled quietly, knowing full well what happened. The Miraculous of the ladybug and the black cat represented yin and yang, meaning that they're one. Both of the Miraculous complete the other. Creation may seem powerful and incredible, when really it's vulnerable in many ways, that's why Destruction is there, to make sure nothing happens to Creation. With Creation comes Destruction, it's been like that ever since the beginning.'I'm not sure Marinette, but I do know Lila finally deserved what she got,', Marinette nodded her head, as kind as she may be, she is thrilled to see the shock look on Lila's face. Tikki float towards Marinette front, 'But you really should be more careful Marinette, Lila may have slipped up today, but we'll never know when she will frame you again,' she warned. Marinette giggled, 'Alright Tikki, I'll be more careful,' she kissed the top of the kwami's head.

__________

Lila was sure, today she will ruin Marinette once and for all, she spent all of last night devising a new plan, but first, she had to earn back the trust of the class. She went for Mylene first, knowing full well that she is just as vulnerable as Rose. Stepping up to her in the locker room, she spoke in her best "sweet" voice, 'Mylene, I just want to say, I really didn't know how Chloe's necklace got into my bag, and I'm really sorry if I broke your trust, I really didn't know what happened,' she pleaded. Mylene, being the sweet girl she is, smiled, 'Of course Lila, we were pretty shocked yesterday, and might have judged you too quickly, I want to apologize too,' she smiled, which Lila inwardly sneered at. She flashed her a sweet smile, grabbing both of her hands, she questioned in an innocent tone, 'So are we still friends?'.

Mylene softly grabbed onto her hands, 'Of course Lila, we're friends,' . Lila scoffed, Who does she think she is? Grabbing my hands like that, these peasants aren't worth near my delicate ones. She hid her disgust as she embraced the shorter girl. Meanwhile, Marinette and Alya were at the half-Chinese's locker, Alya scoffed, covering her mouth with her tablet to speak to Marinette, 'Can you believer her? I can't believe I used to worship her, poor Mylene,' . Marinette rolled her eyes at Lila, she was glad somebody was on her side. 'They'll find out she's lying one day Alya,' the bluenette assured. Alya looked at Marinette and embraced her, 'Girl, I'm so sorry I didn't believe you before, now I know how you feel,' . Marinette smiled sweetly, the opposite of Lila's own smile.

'Hey! How my favourite dudettes hangin?' Nino waved towards them, as the two girls exited the locker room, heading to class. The upcoming DJ slung an arm around Alya, Adrien tailing behind, waving at them softly. Marinette waved back at the two. As the four were about to head up, Marinette halted, 'I left my bag in the locker room again!' she sulked. Alya chuckled, 'You're too cute Mari, go get it, we'll wait for you here,', Marinette nodded and ran, almost tripping over her own feet. Adrien had to ignore the flutter in his heard upon seeing their "Everyday Ladybug" so vulnerable and adorable.

Alya turned towards Adrien, Nino's arm still slung around her, 'So, Sunshine boy, what happened yesterday?' she questioned, Nino looking at the both of them questioningly. Adrien cocked a teasing brow, his Chat Noir side showing a little, 'Whatever do you mean, Alya?' he smiled. Alya jabbed a finger to his chest, 'Don't play dumb with me, Golden Boy, I saw your expression when Lila got exposed, that was your doing wasn't it?' she demanded. Poor Nino didn't understand what's going on, but soon caught up when he recalled yesterday's event, 'Dude? That was you? How?'. Adrien sighed, 'I couldn't let Lila bully Marinette, and I think it's time she learned her lesson, I'm done playing the high road, I won't let anything happen to Marinette,' he spoke in a low voice, not wanting to gain the attention of the students around them. With that he caught up towards Marinette, who is making her way towards them, both of them engaging in a conversation seconds later.

Nino and Alya looked at Adrien shocked, as the two walked up the stairs. The turtle hero and the fox hero following soon after. Nino could then make out a string of words that his girlfriend muttered, 'Just a friend my butt,'.

__________

It's Art class for their first period, and their work is painting. Lila is finding it hard to get to Marinette, Alya and Nino were always with her, and so is Adrien, she fumed as she eyed Adrien leaning towards Marinette to compliment her art, the girl flashing him a grateful smile, a pink hue dusted her cheeks. Adrien is supposed to be fawning over her! Not that good for nothing baker girl! Lila was blinded by anger and jealousy, and the plan she so carefully devised last night was dumped to the side of her brain. The spotted hero in civilian form now began to stand up, and walked out the class to wash her cup filled with dirtied paint water. The moment she passed by Lila, the olive-eyed girl forgot all about staying calm and composed, sticking her foot out, to which Marinette is unaware of (focused on the part where she might accidentally spill the water) and tripped her. Marinette fell, her cup knocked out of her hands, and drenched her body from head to chest.

Students turned their focus from their painting to the fallen girl on the floor, soaking wet at this point. Most of them came to aid her, while some of them chuckled and turned back towards their work, dismissing this as another one of Marinette's clumsiness. Adrien was not convinced, he saw Lila's foot stuck out when his princess tripped. Meanwhile Marinette sneezed from the cold air hitting her drenched body, her hands flew to wrap around herself, shivering. Alya rushed to aid her best friend, but Adrien beat her to it, taking off his white over-shirt and wrapping it around the girl, supporting the girl as he excused both of them to get Marinette cleaned up, despite the pig-tailed girl's flustered state.

Before they left, Adrien shot Lila a look, his usual kind green eyes turned acid-green as he glared at her, a warning glare. Lila flinched a little, but quickly masked it, as she gushed on how clumsy Marinette is, inside she is burning with rage towards the blue-haired girl, What does Adrien see in her?! She cursed at herself for letting rage blind her. The class isn't much help either, instead they're adding fuel to Lila's fire, gushing on the "Adrienette" moment that just happened. They were all supposed to be shipping her and Adrien! They would make a much better pair than Adrienette!

_________

'I could've sworn I tripped over something,' Marinette spoke from the inside of the girls bathroom, while Adrien stood outside, waiting for her. He had handed her his spare black shirt in his locker, his white over-shirt now fitted to his body once again. The man sighed, 'I saw Lila trip you, are you hurt anywhere?' he spoke with concern. 'I'm fine Adrien, thanks for caring, I have to be careful from where I'm walking now,' she giggled. The door opened as Marinette stepped out, in one of Adrien's shirt, her black jacket sealed in a bag. Marinette rinsed her dirtied hair with clean water to wash the paint off, letting her hair down for ti to dry quicker. Despite sounding normal, the girl is still in a rather flustered state, 'Are you sure about your shirt? I don't think your father would do well with his son's shirt on some random girl,' she tugged on the hem of the large shirt nervously. Despite Adrien's lanky frame, he is still a lot taller and broader than Marinette, and the half-Asian is a petite girl. Adrien fought back the blush, covering his face with his hands, the girl looked so adorable and small he had the urge to just embrace her and never let go. 'It's fine Marinette, besides, my father wouldn't mind, if I explain the situation to him I'm sure he'll understand,' he straightened up. Marinette stammered, flushing red, 'I....B..but I didn't want you to get in trouble because of me! I...I promised to give it back tomorrow!' she squeaked the last part.

The blonde swallowed dryly, muttering something that went unheard by Marinette, 'She's going to be the death of me one day,', staring down at the fidgety girl, he placed a hand on her shoulder, smiling, 'It's okay Marinette, really, keep the shirt, I have more at home, you need it more than I do, now come on, let's get back to class,', he grabbed her hand and led her out, ignoring the slight rustle of movement in his shirt pocket. Marinette is a blushing mess right about now, just when she thought she is moving on, she managed to fall in love with him again, and it's more complicated now as she was just starting to feel butterflies around her kitty too. Tikki peeked out from her holder's purse, giggling quietly at her owner, if only she knew.

__________

Squeals were heard in the art room, which were identified as Alya's and Rose's. The entire class is welcomed by a flushed Marinette and a slightly pink Adrien. The art teacher merely smiled at them as he watched the scene. The blond made sure his pig-tailed princess was back to his seat then went back to his own, where Nino nudged him in the ribs coyly. Alya and the rest of the girls, excluding Lila, Chloe and Sabrina, the brunette is raging at this point (surprisingly there's still no akuma) at her seat, rushed to the bluenette, demanding details. 'Girl explain to us why are you in Adrien Agreste's shirt?!' Alya shook the girl hard. Rose squealed, 'Oh my gosh It's so romantic! He lent you his shirt!' she sighed dreamily, leaning against Juleka, who merely gave a nod of approval towards Marinette. Alix placed both hands behind her head, whistling, 'I do hope you both didn't do anything more~' she teased. Adrien peeked and chuckled to himself when Marinette buried her red face in her hands, and let out a muffled scream, avoiding eye contact from everyone. The black cat in civilian form had to finally admit that Marinette isn't just a friend after all, though he still has feelings for his bugaboo. Mylene gushed, 'You're so adorable Marinette, relax, Alix's just teasing you,' . Marinette tucked half of her face into the large shirt, breathing deeply into the boy's scent, all the while hiding her flushed face from the others.

Lila is fuming, her neatly detailed plan was all ruin, all because of her jealousy. Putting up her fake act, she can't afford to receive anymore of the accusing glances, and strutted off to gush at Marinette, biting her tongue in disgust.

__________

It's P.E. The teacher had decided with dodgeball, the most feared yet celebrated sport among the students. What's worse is that she announced the rules to be different. Where one boy and girl were teamed together. But, alas, exceptions were made. The rules were simple, the boys can get hit by the balls, while the girls are to throw the balls, but if the girls do get hit, then the pair is out. Lila, once again lied about her Arthritis acting up again.

The P.E. teacher was, well, you could say a romantic that loves shipping students together. She paired up, of course, the heroes of Paris, Adrien and Marinette, followed by Alya and Nino, Kim and Alix, Max and Sabrina, Mylene and Ivan, Juleka and Rose (the teacher made an exception, Juleka took up the role of the boy, protecting sweet Rose from the rage of dodgeballs.). Poor Nathaniel got paired with Chloe, much to his dismay. Lila's head snapped up, once hearing Adrien and Marinette's name together. She couldn't do anything but just watch as Adrien pulled Marinette to their spot, with Marinette beginning her self-conscious rambles on how she would be slowing Adrien down.

Marinette knew she was clumsy, as the game started, her guilt built up as Adrien shielded her from the incoming balls, with most of them knowing Marinette's high chance of slipping up and tumbling over her own feet. Adrien, with his cat-like reflexes worked perfectly to prevent the balls from hitting his princess.

Lila watched in jealousy, as Adrien grabbed the bluenette's hips, twirling her behind him, not even her anger towards Ladybug can suppress the rage for Marinette inside Lila. Soon, a few pairs were out. Poor Nathaniel had to kneel down to apologize to Chloe when failing to protect her from the incoming ball fired by Alya. Juleka and Rose were soon out, Rose squealing many apologies for not being able to throw the balls correctly, Juleka silencing her with a cheek kiss. Alix and Kim were on fire, aiming to destroy every last one of the pairs. Their latest victims were Max and Sabrina, both laughed a little at their defeat, joining the others to the benches.

Alya and Nino, and Adrien and Marinette, engaged in a little war, where they keep firing balls at each other. Alya mocked the poor clumsy girl poking behind form Adrien's shoulder. 'Come on Mari, look at poor Adrien, he looks bruised all over, are you going to just stand behind him and let him take all the hits by himself?' she high-fived Nino, who just merely chuckled as Adrien shot them an annoyed glance. Marinete grumbled, deciding to let her Ladybug confidence take over her for just this once.

Mylene and Ivan were out soon, when the shorter girl tripped over a ball, causing her to fall, the ball rolling over to Lila's foot. Once Ivan and Mylene were settled on the bench, Alix called out from the center, 'Lila! Could you throw the ball over here?! Me and Kim are going to pulverized those two!' she slammed her palm with her fist, as Kim gathered up the scattered balls. Lila smiled, an idea popping up in her twisted, evil mind. Grabbing the ball, she threw it as hard as she could, but not aiming at the sporty pair, instead, at Marinette, who is wide open for the ball to hit her. Lila made it seem like she missed her aim, as the class watched in horror, the ball merely a few seconds away from Marinette's head.

Adrien's cat senses picked up the ball coming towards Marinette. Reaching one hand to push Marinette behind him by the waist, he blocked the ball with his arm, his glare fixated on Lila. Marinette barely knew what was going on, she stared at the man before her with wide eyes. Lila gritted her teeth, harming Marinette isn't as easy as she thought it would be, as Adrien seems to have appointed himself Marinette's knight in shining armor (knight in shining black leather, to be more precise), but Lila didn't seem to learn her lesson just yet, Adrien had confirmed so himself, the evil glint in Lila's eyes showed that she is stubborn, and not the kind he sees in his lady and Marinette's eyes. Lila smiled apologetically, 'Oops! My Arthritis is acting up again! I hope you're alright Adrien and Marinette!'.

Adrien put on his model facade, 'It's all good Lila, thanks for the ball, now we have extras to defeat the remaining pairs!' he smiled. Kim and Alix scoffed from the center, 'As if!'. The three pairs went through war, Marinette beginning to feel more and more confident during their battle, laughing and throwing balls more frequently. Adrien saw as Marinette giggled, one of her balls hitting Alya's elbow, to which both of them yelled out words of frustration. The sight of her sweaty and laughing reminded him so much of his lady he couldn't help but fall deeper in her spell, he knew he was screwed once he stared into her bluebell eyes that seem to resemble Ladybug so much.

Kim's shout broke Adrien out of his trance, as he looked toward Alix, who is armed and ready to attack them, determined to remain superior in the battlefield of sports. What she didn't know, (but will soon find out when she gets her Miraculous) is that she's facing Paris's beloved badass duo.

As if their Ladybug and Chat Noir senses kicked in, Adrien blocked the ball, Marinette coming out from behind, holding one of the balls. The adrenaline flowing through her veins as she momentarily forgot about everything, focusing only on the target in front of them. Tossing up the ball, she jumped up, her form of hitting the ball reflected through Adrien's pupils. He had forgotten all about everything, admiring the beautiful sight of the girl he had called his "Everyday Ladybug". Marinette drew her right arm back, spiking the ball towards Alix, who her and Kim never expected to see it coming. The entire moments was so fast, the class was in awe. They had seldom gotten to see this side of Marinette, and they had cherished it.

The ball hit Alix's hip, which Kim failed to shield her from the shock he had just received. When Marinette dropped to the ground, Adrien had lifted her up and spun her around, both laughing in victory. The entire class, excluding Lila again, had rushed towards them, celebrating their success, thought Kim and Alix began a playful argument on who wasn't fast enough.

Lila gritted her teeth in anger, her olive eyes squinted in jealousy. The saying of "Jealousy is an ugly thing" is proven to be right. Lila had lost all sense of logic, blinded by jealousy, she wanted Marinette done.

_________

'Still a friend to you kid?' Plagg teased, holding onto his daily dose of camembert, Adrien grumbled into his pillow, muttering 'Are her eyes always this blue? Am i falling in love? What happened to Ladybug? Can you be in love with two at the same time? What's happening to me?' the question flowed out of his mouth. Plagg laughed hysterically, 'Kid, maybe you should try going for pig-tails this time, imagine, all the good bread to go with cheese!'. he gobbled down the smelly cheese. Adrien lift his head to face Plagg, 'You always think with your stomach,'. Plagg shrugged, 'So what are you doing with the sausage girl?' the god of destruction started calling her that after getting a good look at her hair, he really thought it was sausages hanging from her hair.

'She seems pretty angry today, I think it's only a matter of time before she completely loses it, we'll take the high road for now, I never thought annoying someone could be this fun,' he chuckled. Plagg settled himself onto the boy's bed, 'I guess they can strip off your title as Sunshine Boy,'. Adrien merely chuckled and settled down, staring at the ceiling, sorting out his feelings.

__________

Adrien was right, Lila had lost her temper days after, all her built up lies and threats fall into the ditch. She let her emotions take over and lost everything she once had.

It was during school when some students had extra classes, the Akuma Class had one extra period in Chemistry, as they went to their locker to gather their things for the class.

Lila has had it, she spent the whole day tripping Marinette, even going as far as spreading rumors, and framing her. But it always didn't go her way, if anything it made Marinette more loved, and she had to control herself from pouncing on her when having to watch the class gush on how close the bluenette and blond had gotten. She knew Adrien is preventing everything she is planning, constantly in the right place at the right time, she was furious at Adrien for stopping her. He was suppose to be fawning over her like the other mindless idiots! Seeing the two of them so close together at Marinette's locker, with Marinette leaning back a little to show Adrien something form her sketchbook, the man leaning in a little, his chin almost touching the girl's shoulder. It was such a sickeningly sweet posture that it practically radiates diabetes. Alya had her phone out while the girls gushed over it.

Deciding it was the last straw, and momentarily forgetting the presence of practically the whole class in the locker room. Stomping over to them, she screeched like a spoiled child, or in most people's case, a banshee. 'I have had it with you Dupain-Cheng! You were supposed to be an outcast! Alone! I was supposed to be there next to Adrien! Not you! I didn't plan all of this just for you to get closer to him! Ughh! I hate you!' she screamed it all at a stunned Marinette.

Before Marinette could respond, Lila continued, letting her rage completely take over, 'And you! You're supposed to be fawning over me! Like the mindless idiots in the class! Not going over to her! She's a nobody! What's so great about her anyway! I'm a model! I worked with the famous Gabriel! All she ever does is doodle some ugly designs and bake bread! I'm the one who's worthy of the Agreste name! Me! If you have gotten together with me I would've actually met Jagged Stone and Prince Ali, then I wouldn't have to lie about this! I wouldn't have to lie about all these stupid diseases and everyone would be flocking over to me! Not this girl you called your "Everyday Ladybug" !' she finished, panting, challenging Adrien, who suddenly had his arm around Marinette, both of them glaring at the brunette.

Lila froze, she looked around her, the entire Akuma class stared at her, shock. Alya had her phone out. Oh no, she messed up, it was all going so well, and she let her anger control her. She now wished for an akuma to take over her already. Quickly thinking of a new excuse, she spoke with a paled face, 'Oh no! I let my disease take over me again! I'm sorry, I swear I didn't mean what I said to Marinette and Adrien! My lying disease had acted up again. Please understand!' she cried out, fake tears streaming down her face.

Alix broke the silence, screaming, 'So Marinette was right all along! You are a liar! I can't believe you!'.

'So uncool Lila!'

'You've been lying all this time! And we thought Marinette was jealous! Oh Poor Marinette!'

'There is a 99.97% chance that there is no such disease Lila,'

'How could you Lila! We would've accepted you just fine when you don't lie!'

Lila's eyes widened, 'N...no guys! It really is a disease! Please! You have to believe me!' she cried out, her face turning as white as a sheet of paper. Nino called out, 'I don't think the word "believe" would suit this conversation right now Lila, you just lied to all of us, and you even framed our dudette Marinette for all those horrible things! That's low!' the DJ shook his head in disappointment.

Lila's shocked expression morphed into something uglier, anger, turning around, she screamed at Marinette, 'It's all your fault! If you weren't in the way! I would've been in the spotlight! I hate you! You're nothing but a nuisance in our lives! I wish you were gone! I don't get what Adrien sees in you!' she was about to scream more when she flinched at the sound of a fist against the locker door. Looking to wards the source, she was greeted by the hovering figure of one Adrien Agreste, his fist still remaining against the metal material of the locker, his eyes, acid-green, glinting dangerously at her, 'Shut up Lila,' he growled, something that the others were not aware that he could create.

'W..what?' Lila was speechless. Adrien spoke up in a low voice, 'I said shut up, you don't get to talk about our "Everyday Ladybug" like that, nor do you have the privilege. I like her, you want to know why? Because unlike you, Marinette doesn't go lying about everything, and she actually works hard to achieve her dreams. She actually met Jagged Stone, but she didn't brag it all out like you, she's humble, she's kind, and she puts other's needs before herself, and, Rossi, that is why Marinette would always be a thousand times more better than you. I'm not stupid Rossi, I know you've been spying on my on behalf of my dad, you manipulated him to get closer to him, so don't go spouting all that nonsense of you wanting the best for me, you don''t care about me, you just want my last name, and I despise people like you. So don't talk about my princess like that, is that clear?' he finished. Marinette's eyes lit up at the mention of her nickname. Only one person has ever called me princess, she flushed red at the realization.

Adrien is Chat Noir!

I've been rejecting him for him!

And he just openly confessed to me, if this is a dream don't wake me up?

Lila's eyes were wide, she didn't seem to hear the "Since when did you call Marinette princess?!" from Alya behind her, all she could focus was the fact that her future would be ruin, all the fame and fortune she ever dreamed off, gritting her teeth, she pointed towards him, showing her true colors at last, 'Really?! You don't know what I'm capable of Agreste, I could get you out of school with just a few of my words! Your father wouldn't even know what's coming! Ha! Do you think I really liked you?! You're just a stepping stone towards my popularity! And here I thought you were perfect?! If it weren't for your last name then I would've just turn you into one of my minions!'

Adrien's eyes reflected hurt, he hated being recognized only for his name, it makes him think that all he's ever good for is his name, not what he truly is. Lila noticed this, sneering, she mocked, 'What Agreste, you're going to hurt me? Slap me? Think before you act blondie, I can tarnish your reputation by reporting that you, a boy, hit me, a delicate woman, imagine what would the press think of you?' she cackled.

Marinette has had it, no one, and she means no one, talks to her precious kitty like that! Drawing her hand back, she slapped the girl across her face cleanly. Lila stumbled back, while everyone widened their eyes at the force coming from the petite girl. The Italian touched her now red cheek, anger rising quickly, how dare that peasant slap her! Before she could take it out, Marinette beat her to it, and the force of her voice caused everyone to silence themselves immediately.

'Adrien can't hit you, but I can! How dare you! You witch! Using Adrien and my friends like that as your pawns! They're not some dolls you can control! Can't you see you're hurting them! I would've tolerate you if you target me only! But you're the kind that thinks of yourself as some goddess or ruler, that you're above us all! Manipulating us, lying to us! You really are the worst of the worst! Adrien knew you were lying, but being the sweet and kind person he is he gave you chance for you to change, but what did you do?! You used this kindness to your advantage! Adrien isn't some kind of trophy for you to hang around your arm! He's a real person who just wants to live a normal life, instead people like you used him, turned him into some kind of eye candy! Can't you see he needs emotional support?! He needs someone there for him, his father is always busy and he just lost his mother! He's hurting inside, and you don't even acknowledge that fact! Well let me tell you this Lila, we are not minions who you can control! You will either apologize to them or stay an outcast! Unlike Adrien, I am not that kind to let you off the hook!' Marinette finished, out of breath.

Adrien stared at the girl, the sight of her standing up to him almost made his eyes water, she's simply the most amazing girl he met besides Ladybug, he wondered to himself on how he didn't notice this goddess of a woman before.The confidence, the voice, the posture, it reminded him so much of his lady, he had never fallen more harder than ever for a girl, not even Ladybug crossed his mind as his eyes only ever saw Marinette Dupain-Cheng right now.

Lila had her eyes wide open once again, she was pale, and everyone could almost hear a whimper escaping her lips. The class stared at Marinette, their class president is incredible! The liar had to mutter a small apology half-heartedly and ran out, ashamed and embarrassed.

The situation was so tense they were surprise an akuma didn't appear already. Alix cut it off with a wolf-whistle, Alya shoved her phone towards Nino and ran towards Marinette, 'Girl that was so awesome! You're so amazing! Just like Ladybug!' she hugged the half-Asian. Soon after the rest of the girls joined, thanking Marinette. Everyone just stood there thanking their beloved class president, well, almost everyone, Adrien still had that lovesick gaze on her, which did not go unnoticed by Alya.

The Ladyblogger placed her hands on her hips, smirking teasingly, 'So, Sunshine Boy, what's all this about liking my girl Marinette and calling her princess? Isn't she "just a friend"?' she quoted. Adrien snapped out of his trance, face burning red as he stammered some quiet words out, covering his face. Rose squealed, 'You do like Marinette! Oh it's so romantic on how you defended each other! You're just like Ladybug and Chat Noir!'. The rest of the class nodded in approval. 'It's like they're the civilian versions of Paris's superheroes!' Mylene giggled.

Both Marinette and Adrien took this as a suspicion on their superhero identities, flushing red, they held their hands up and denied everything in panic. Their friends laughed at the two's reaction, 'You two really are made for each other! Just kiss already!' Alix called out, fist bumping Kim in the process. They flushed red again, as Chloe called out, 'Ugh! As if I'm seeing those two lock lips! Sabrina! Let's go! We're late for Chemistry!' she snapped her fingers, beckoning the girl to follow her. The class gasped in surprise, they were approximately 15 minutes late for their class! Yells of surprise were heard and within seconds the locker room was empty, except for the bluenette and blond.

'Adrien? Did you really mean what you said earlier?' Marinette bit her lip, looking down at the ground shyly. The blonde lifted the girl's chin up slowly, in a soft voice, he spoke, 'Yes, I really like you Marinette, and I realized I had been for awhile, you're the most amazing girl I've ever met, and I have been pretty blind for not noticing such a wonderful girl in front of me, I'll be delighted if you'll return my feelings,' he gave her a shy smile. Marinette would've exploded, but she bear the thought that the man in front of her was her partner, the one that had been in love with her alter-ego for so long, confessed to her twice, and her heart swelled at the feeling. 'Of course Adrien, you have no idea how long I've been in love with you, and yes, you have been pretty blind to not notice,' she giggled at the last part. 'We'll talk about this later, okay? We're both really late for class,' Marinette began to leave, but Adrien stopped her to thank her once again.

'Marinette, i just want to thank you for standing up to me, it really means a lot to me, You're really amazing you know that?' he added the last part with a soft smile, one that the spotter-hero had seen frequently on a certain feline-hero. Adrien rubbed the back of his neck shyly, Marinette smiled, 'It's alright Adrien, plus,' she leaned towards his ear, whispering the last part clearly, 'I couldn't let her bad-mouthed my chaton that way, could I?' giggled quietly to herself, she walked out, not before shooting a quick wink towards the model.

Adrien stood there, frozen. Did she just call me? Only one person calls me that. No, it cant be. I can't be that lucky. Then, if she says she's been in love with me for awhile, then that means, she rejected me, for me? Piecing the puzzles together, he came to a conclusion: Marinette is Ladybug. Why wouldn't she be? they're both brave, courageous, kind and Adrien had to say, extremely gorgeous. Hearing Plagg stifle a laughter inside his pocket, his suspicions were correct. He's the holder of the black cat Miraculous, the literal owner of the God of destruction and bad luck, how could he be this lucky?

Smiling in a lovesick way, he promised to himself that once the pig-tailed girl was his, he would never let her go, not ever again.

(This is just a one-shot to giving our heroes some justice, absolutely no Lila hate)

#marinette dupain cheng #ladrien #marichat #adrienette #ladynoir #alya #nino lahiffe #badass marinette #badass adrien #adrien #marinette #post-reveal adrienette #miraculous ladybug fanfic #miraculous ladybug fandom

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imomomi · 4 years

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Extra:

Atsumu wasn’t sure what he was expecting when Y/N said she was bringing her friends. Hell, if he was being honest, he’d never even expected her and Suna to get along as well as they did. But, the two girls that arrived were vaguely familiar and leveled him with glares so deadly, he instantly worried that he’d rejected them at some point. Y/N was oblivious to the stare off, searching the ground for the spot with the most grass. Atsumu rolled his eyes and tossed her his blazer. She didn’t say thank you and he didn’t really care to hear it.

Her friends tossed their things onto the ground as Y/N made a blanket out of his blazer and sat down. Iwanuma and Ota greeted him, bitingly adding that they were cheerleaders and that they hoped that Inarizaki would make it farther along this year.

“It’s not like you’d have anything else to cheer for if we don’t,” he said and then winced. Y/N frowned and raised a brow. Her eyebrows were usually the best indication of what kind of doom would follow. Once and only once, when he’d spilled a whole bottle of Pocari Sweat on her after winning a game in middle school, had her brows gone so high that he feared for his life.

“I’m here because no one else could stand to be in your presence, so shut up,” Y/N said. He rolled his eyes and stuffed the last of his onigiri into his mouth. The rice was bland in his mouth.

“Oh, no worries! We know he’s just joking,” said Ota with a cheery grin on her face. “Besides we never cheer for Atsumu-senpai.”

Atsumu blinked, head lolling to the side. He shook his head and laughed lightly. Guess Y/N had found more friends. The thought rung hollowly in his chest. It’s not like he cared much or needed that kind of shit anyway. He had Osamu, his teammates—even though some of them hated him—and volleyball. His brow furrowed and he fell strangely quiet, not noticing the three girls exchanging glances.

“Eat,” said Y/N and shoved a melon-pan into his hands. “It’s creepy if you’re watching us.” Her bento was freakishly neat, something Ota took delight in photographing.

“It’s always creepy. He has a pervert’s face,” said Iwanuma.

“Osamu has this face,” he defended. Y/N laughed sharply and shook her head. A tiny grin played at the corners of her mouth; eyes wrinkled at the corners.

“He wears it better,” she said, “I wish one of you had kept the black hair. It was nicer.”

“I look good! Everyone thinks so.”

“Who is everyone? The fangirls only want you because they think you’re going to be rich,” Y/N paused, turning to him with sharp eyes, “They haven’t heard you speak yet.”

“That’s not fair,” he whined, “I’m the older twin. I’m better looking. Come on, admit it.”

“What does being older have to do with looks? Won’t you just die faster?” asked Ota.

“That’s not the point,” he cried. The girls laughed together, the sound neither mocking nor scornful, but warm. Atsumu risked a glance at Y/N surprised to see that she was smiling freely. Though she wore her mask less often than she had in middle school, her face always carried an eerie calm that made it impossible to determine what she was feeling. Maybe it was because he’d know her for so long and spent summer’s figuring out what each twitch meant, but there was something comforting in being able to read her face.

They settled into light conversation, talking about school and their classes. They touched briefly on entrance exams, attempting to skim past the conversation when Ota voiced her displeasure at being the younger of the group. Atsumu knew that Y/N had her heart set on Tokyo, but he’s surprised to learn that it was because of her cousins.

“Volleyball,” he answered when they turn to him.

“Any team?” Iwanuma asked.

“The Jackals.”

“Holy shit,” Ota exclaimed and immediately covered her mouth with her hands. “You’re like good good.”

“Duh, he got called up to Youth Japan,” hissed Iwanuma, “What did you think? He’s dramatic, but it’s not without anything to back it up.”

“Dramatic?” asked Atsumu. He leaned back and rested on his elbows, grass digging into his white button down. Y/N made a noise between a squeak and a hiccup as he did and lurched forward. He swatted her away, smiling at the scowl that instantly formed on her face.

“THE SERVE ROUTINE,” Ota shouted. She stood up instantly and backed away a few paces. He groaned as she took four steps forward and thrust a fist in the air.

“No, no,” said Y/N to his surprise. His eyes widened as she stood too. What alternate universe had he walked into? Y/N mimicked his actions perfectly, down to the way he walked, and when Iwanuma started laughing, she leveled a heavy glare at her that was all too familiar. Atsumu choked and laughed so hard, tears sprung to his yes.

“Oi, sit down,” he ordered, “You’re all a bunch of scrubs.”

“What the hell does that even mean?” asked Ota.

“Doesn’t matter. Just don’t try that on M-1, you’re awful,” he shook his head. Ota jumped on Y/N’s back, pressing a sloppy kiss to her cheek that was immediately wiped off.

When they’re done eating, he helped them clean up their stuff, not because he wanted to, but it felt like something Kita might have done and he’s all about channeling his ex-captain these days. Y/N lingered in the hall, letting her friends run off before her. Iwanuma dragged away a shouting Ota, who screeched the names of some boybands down the hall until she was no longer in sight.

“Where’d you meet those two clowns?” he asked. His blazer is tucked her arm with a promise to be washed and returned.

“Haru went to middle school with us,” she rolled her eyes at the look of confusion that crossed his face, “I tutored Mirai when she was a freshman.”

“You know, you’re kinda cute around them. A total tsundere.”

“Oh, shut up,” she huffed, cheeks turning a light pink, “I don’t need your inane flirting-“

“So, you admit it’s flirting. That seems like a step in the right direction.”

“Atsumu.”

“Y/N,” he mocked. She sighed and ran a hand over her face, staring at him with deeply ingrained exhaustion.

“We have practice later?”

“You can skip if you want. I’m pretty sure they deserve a break from their demon manager.”

“Your sets to Riseki need work. You’re the same height, but you keep tossing too high. He’s not playing on a trampoline; he can’t jump the way you want him to. Also, I think Osam-”

“Stop using your brain for a second. It’s stressing me out,” he breathed in deeply, putting a hand on her shoulder to force her to do the same, “Put it on paper and give it to me later. I’ll look at it.”

“Can you even read? You got a 10 on your last Japanese Literature exam.”

“I swear to god,” said Atsumu and inhaled sharply, “I’m this close to kissing you.”

“You demented pervert! This is why I don’t speak to you,” she shoved him away in an instant. The scent of her peach shampoo filed the air as she turned on her heel and stomped away. It was way too easy to rile her up, but somehow the thrill he got from doing it hadn’t gone away. Instead, he found himself looking for new reactions: little blushes, the way she ignored certain texts for hours, but would respond to others right away, sometimes he’d push just the right button and she’d throw something at him, usually her books, but once she’d pulled off a shoe and tossed it with a enough force to have given him a concussion had he not caught it.

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aitaikimochi · 4 years

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Here is the full translation of Nomura, Kitase, and Toriyama, and Hamaguchi’s interview from the FF7R Famitsu feature! Nomura talks about Jessie's popularity, the decision to include the Masssage Parlour scene, comments about the next installment's release, and more! Kitase discusses how it’s like working with a new generation of game developers, explains a bit more about the scene with Sephiroth and Cloud at the Edge of Creation, and refers to the Remake as the “New FFVII Story.” Toriyama mentions that the staff who worked on the original game wanted to create a completely new game while younger staff wanted to stay true to the original. Hamaguchi explains more about the development process as well as how they came up with the battle system, what type of system they have planned for Part 2, and more!

DIRECTOR TETSUYA NOMURA INTERVIEW —Now that the game has been released, how are you feeling?

Nomura: Well first off, I feel very relieved. Although there’s still a long way to go on the road to completing the entire story, we are now able to see exactly which direction we will be heading.

—From the game’s battle system to its story to the elaborate details of Midgar’s various environments, including songs that sometimes only play in one scene, the game is full of a richness that has been carefully crafted, which shows that a lot of time and effort was spent creating this game. The staff must have been very enthusiastic, right?

Nomura: I think it’s due to the staff’s love for FFVII. The enthusiasm from the fans also helped propel us forward.

—Are there any elements from either the Original game or part of the compilation that you wanted to make a reality or something that you wanted to have in the past game that then added into this game?

Nomura: Definitely the world itself as well as how richly the people are portrayed. With all the different compilations gathered, it was rather easy to create the world. I think we were able to convey the importance of the areas seamlessly.

—FF7R really digs deep into the Original Game’s story, but there is a surprising development towards the end of the game. With Remakes, there’s always a faction of people who don’t want anything changed, but there are also those who actually want things to be changed. Were there discussions among the creators on whether or not you should change things?

Nomura: Since the concept of FF7R was already decided from the beginning, there wasn’t that much discussion. However, since each individual had different ways of perceiving things, we did discuss exactly how far we will change the story. I believe that I was the one who actually put a stop on several ideas towards the latter half of development (laughs).

—The Remake contains the “Whispers of Fate” that are not present in the original story, but what was the intent of having this presence? In English, they’re called the Whispers, but in Japanese they’re called the “Feelers.” Is there a specific reason for this difference, for example if the word “Feeler” was the origin of the name?

Nomura: Nojima-san actually requested us to give the Whispers an eerie aura. Initially, the Whispers were designed to be made out of small particles of sand that crumbled while still maintaining its shape, but also unclear in form. We then created an image of them wearing a robe, but more so than that, when we had to make a lot of them appear together, that’s when their form took a clear shape. The word “feeler” means to sense and to touch, but at the moment I cannot say anymore than that.

—Those who come into contact with Aerith can see the Whispers, right? Also, was Aerith able to see them from the beginning?

Nomura: People can see the Whispers when they come into contact with Aerith. However, at the moment I am unable to tell you when Aerith started seeing them.

—Instead of always being on edge, Cloud seems to behave more cooly but instead comes off as uncool to those around him. Aerith also seems a bit more mature than the original’s portrayal of her, and Barret seems a more unhinged and tense. The characters all seem to have a new side of them now. What kind of concepts did you use to add to the characters in this game?

Nomura: I personally think that the characters still have the same image as they did before, but with much more expressions now, and adding voices also created a large impact. This was my interpretation of the characters at the start, but since the original game required the player to imagine the type of reactions the characters would have, I think that this caused there to be different images of the characters. As time passed, I’m sure that those images of the characters had changed as well. I think that the errors in each individual player’s interpretation is in itself an interesting part of the game.

—Jessie has a lot of scenes in the Remake and has become quite a popular character. Were her scenes planned from the beginning, or were they something that was added midway through development?

Nomura: It was planned from the beginning. However, I did not expect her to be this popular though!

—The three new characters in Wall Market, Andrea Rhodea, Madam M, and Chocobo Sam, left quite an impression. What was created first, the characters’ personalities or their designs? Also, how did the concept of the Massage Parlour come about?

Nomura: At first, the characters’ personalities weren’t that detailed. We didn’t plan for their designs to be that rich either. However, I think that the voices and acting played a great role for them. In regards to the hand massage, in a city like that, well, the maturity rating would probably go up, so we couldn’t go further with what we had.

—Characters such as Leslie and Kyrie appeared in the light novels, but what was the background on bringing them into the Remake? For example, was it for fan service or something else?

Nomura: Since the stories are part of the Compilation, Nojima-san and myself had plans for them to be included from the beginning. We thought that it would be natural for them to appear in that time and place within the story, so we decided to leave them there. In regards to what happens to them after the events in the Remake, I recommend that players read the light novel “Final Fantasy 7 TURKS: The Kids Are All Right.”

—In regards to the battle system, it contains a fusion of both command and action elements, and each character has a different fighting style. By choosing different character moves, players are able to form various effective strategies, making for a very refreshing experience. Also, the acting and conversations that the characters have during battle also gives a fresh spin on each battle. I’m sure that this was made possible by trial and error, but what was the most difficult part in doing all of this?

Nomura: A real time action battle requires a sense of nervousness and realism, but we couldn’t discard the form and battle of the original game’s command RPG style. As a result, we went through a lot of trial and error to find a perfect harmony for the two. We decided early on to allow for a slow motion sequence to take place to allow players the advantage of being able to select their actions, but there was a long period of time that we couldn’t do it properly. It was largely thanks to the staff for tying in the ATB system to perfect this as well.

—Lastly, is there anything you would like to say to the readers?

Nomura: We know that everyone wants the next installment to be released quickly. We would also like to deliver it as soon as possible. Since we were able to see the line of quality from the first installment, we hope to make the next installment even better in quality that will make for an even greater experience. We hope to release it as soon as possible, so please wait a bit more. I think we can clearly convey the direction when we officially announce the next installment, so we hope you can look forward to it!

---------

PRODUCER YOSHINORI KITASE INTERVIEW

—From the time that the game was announced at E3 during 2015, the world focused their attention on the game, and after releasing footage of the game’s progress through a promotional video at E3 during 2019, the expectations from the fans has only increased. I’m sure you felt quite a lot of pressure at that time, but now that the game is finally released, how do you feel?

Kitase: I feel relieved that we were able to successfully approach both veteran fans who have been there since the beginning as well as new fans. I feel like right now, the expectations are even higher than before the game was released, and that gives us a lot of motivation to develop the next installment.

—Before the game was released, you mentioned that the hurdle that you needed to overcome was that of the player’s imagination that they have constructed in their minds for the Remake. After seeing the reception from the players post-release, do you feel that you have overcome that hurdle?

Kitase: Well, not just for me, but the power of the entire development staff combined was great. Most of them were fans from the beginning who also played the original game when it first came out. Thanks to that, they knew what kind of image fans probably had for the Remake, and I think we were able to overcome the hurdles that way.

—The game was released worldwide during a time when COVID-19 was affecting the entire world, but did that have any impacts on the game’s development? Also, before the game was released, promotional events were cancelled and the distribution of the game was also shipped ahead of schedule. There seemed to have been a lot of hard decisions to make depending on the situation…

Kitase: In terms of development, we only had the debugging phase left, which meant that the game was pretty much already complete, so there was not much impact from the virus. However, it was a pity that many promotional events were cancelled, and people were not able to really celebrate the release of the game. Luckily, through the means of the downloadable version, we were able to deliver some fun during a very stressful time where it was hard for people to even leave their homes. I hope that we were able to give them at least a moment of reprieve through the game.

—In regards to the FFVII Remake production, was there anything you were particular about?

Kitase: In the latter half of the story, there’s a scene where Cloud and Sephiroth have a confrontation. I wanted the scenery of that segment to show a starry sky that represents the overall themes of FFVII, and the art design team was able to bring that image to life.

Kitase: That’s all thanks to the careful attention that the Co-Directors Hamaguchi and Toriyama as well as the development staff put in making this game. I started game development ever since the Super Famicom console, so I’m used to the type of “cut” and “reuse” way of production. However, the new generation of games require a sense of reality, so that former way of developing games has become obsolete. The current generation of game development staff have that new type of conscience when creating games, so it’s thanks to their enthusiasm that we were able to make this possible.

—I’m sure that there are several younger development staff who never played the original FFVII, so were there any instances where there was a bit of a generation gap?

Kitase: Not really. But I guess when we wanted to give an example from a movie or something, we wouldn’t bring up a reference from an old movie that they probably wouldn’t know (laughs).

—Are there any elements from either the Original game or part of the Compilation that you wanted to make a reality or something that you wanted to have in the past game that was then added into this game?

Kitase: I suppose that would be making everything in 3D with a 360 degree scope of the world. Especially when you’re looking up into the sky of Midgar or looking down towards the slums, I’m really glad that we were able to give the city a sense of realism.

—As a gamer, was there anything in particular from FF7R that surprised or impressed you?

Kitase: This is connected with my answer to the previous question, but yes, being able to look above towards the sky from the slums, thinking “wow, you can see the sky after all!” For 23 years, I imagined the slums to be under a lot of pressure and cloaked in darkness. In the Remake, you can see a different side of the city during the day that you could not see in the original game, and I thought that was really fun.

—You were involved with the initial level design of the Sector 5 Mako Reactor from when the characters infiltrate the reactor to their escape, but were there any other parts that you also were involved in?

Kitase: I was also in charge of the initial stage level design for the scene at the top of the Shinra Building. The scene where Cloud is about to fall off the rooftop but is saved by Tifa is a callback and answer to the Sector 5 Mako Reactor scene where Tifa couldn’t save Cloud from falling.

Kitase: Director Nomura as well as Co-Director Hamaguchi and Toriyama hoped to be able to keep all the parts of the original that fans have come to love. However, we also wanted to add several surprises that would balance out the story too. I’m sure there are people who wish to experience the exact same story and relive memories. However, if we were to do that, then all we would be doing is just adding to the original experience, which would cause the Remake to lose its significance. I think that we were able to successfully revive the story by adding new elements for the new generation of a “New FFVII.”

—Lastly, is there anything you would like to say to the readers?

Kitase: The new FFVII’s story has only just begun. Please look forward to the story from here on out! --------- CO-DIRECTOR TORIYAMA MOTOMU INTERVIEW

—Now that the game has been released, how are you feeling?

Toriyama: I’m really glad that despite the abrupt change in lifestyle [due to COVID-19], this game is able to deliver entertainment to people around the world in the comfort of their own homes. There was some skeptism from fans when we announced before the release of the game that the FF7 Remake will only take place in Midgar, but because the game dug so deeply into the world of FF7, I was relieved to hear that a lot of people were extremely satisfied with the game.

Toriyama: We thought about how we can revive the entity of FFVII using the latest technology as well as capturing the richness of the original. The time it took to oversee one scene or area was great, and in order to do so, we needed much more staff than what we had back in the day. Each and every staff had their own things they were particular about, and we were able to find a balance and successfully craft this game.

—Since you were involved with the development of the game, was there anything you were concerned about?

Toriyama: Since we had to replace many things with a new portrayal, I was quite particular that the essence of FFVII still remained true throughout. I think that if you had played the original game too, you would know which parts were changed and which parts were left in. However, I wanted to make sure that the events of the Remake flowed in a natural way with both new and familiar elements that you can enjoy. I’m happy to know that the Remake is able to add an even more vivid experience to go along with your memories of FFVII.

—I’m sure that there are several younger development staff who never played the original FFVII, so were there any instances where there was a bit of a generation gap?

Toriyama: There are actually a lot of staff who have played the original FFVII and got the opportunity to work in this industry. There are also staff who are more versed in the original game than even the members of staff who worked on the original game, and many of those staff wanted to make an adaptation that kept faithful to the original. In terms of keeping things as traditional as possible, the staff who worked on the original game, myself included, had the notion of “making a new game that no one has ever seen before.” With that conscience in mind, we were able to decide the type of direction we wanted to go in the Remake.

Toriyama: In terms of music, FFVII is a rather cinematic series, but in the original game due to disc space and time restraints, we weren’t able to include a movie-worthy soundtrack. However, we were able to challenge ourselves with the Remake. We wanted to have specific songs that played throughout the entire game that would also go along with the scenes, so the Remake gave us a chance to be able to try this out. With this type of composing, we didn’t really have a specific detailed list, so we didn’t count exactly how many songs we created until we realized that the soundtrack itself would span to seven discs, making it a huge volume of songs (laughs).

—As a gamer, was there anything in particular from FF7R that surprised or impressed you?

Toriyama: After the game was released, I saw a gaming review website capture all the little details of various landscapes in the game, from the posters and billboards to the train time schedules, close inspections of the buildings, pretty much everything that showed the lifestyles of people living in Midgar. Although I’m glad that people were able to deeply observe the details we put in, I can’t help but see some flaws, so it kind of gives me pressure to make sure that the next installment will have even more perfected details (laughs).

—Compared to 23 years ago, from the addition of voices in conversations to a change of design, trends have changed. Was it difficult to achieve a balance of retaining the essence of the original game but still representing it for a new generation?

Toriyama: We wanted to have the game be fully voiced including the NPC within the city, so we were careful when putting in dialogue that would sound natural. We left in some funny lines spoken from the original game’s NPC too, but since there were way more NPCs in the Remake compared to the original, we made sure to find a good balance where those lines wouldn’t be buried among the other spoken dialogue.

Toriyama: For the Remake, the voice acting was added after we had finished creating the cutscenes, and I think that the character’s performance really shined through from the work that the actors and actresses have done that brought out each character’s charm. During recording, Barret had an unexpected continuity that we pushed further, and the results really brought out his character very well.

—In regards to seeing a brand new side of Cloud, the peak of it would probably be the dance sequence at the Honey Bee Inn. Was this scene planned from the beginning?

Toriyama: We strongly did not want to leave out Cloud’s crossdressing scene but instead wanted to create a concept that would make it stand out even more in the Remake. We decided to make Wall Market a huge entertainment district, and we were very enthusiastic in making the Honey Bee Inn even more of an entertainment hotspot in the Remake. I actually helped create the Honey Bee Inn for the original game, so it was easy for me to reimagine the place for the Remake. While still retaining some elements from the original, we were able to give it a huge makeover.

—The Shinra Mascot dog “Stamp” appears in various locations, even on a snack package blowing in the wind in towards the ending with Zack. Was the character of Stamp originally created in the beginning stages of development?

Toriyama: The dog Stamp is a very important symbol that was planned since the beginning. Stamp’s use was determined along with the game design. AVALANCHE also uses him as their symbol, so there is a good meaning to him that we included to have him stand out. However, the Stamp that appears in the scene with Zack is a different breed, so please pay attention to that.

—I was quite surprised that Chadley turned out to be what he was in the story, but who’s idea was it to create this character?

Toriyama: Chadley is a new character that was not in the original game, so it was the scenario team who decided on creating this character. There are a lot of contents regarding the game’s difficulty levels and clearing the battle reports, so we decided to have Cloud be able to encounter Chadley throughout the entire game. I haven’t finished clearing the HARD mode yet, but I hope that those who haven’t cleared everything yet can challenge themselves with this!

—The new character Roche left quite an impact, but he’s an eccentric one that only appears in Chapter 4 and nowhere else. What was the purpose of his character, and will he appear in the next installment?

Toriyama: We had initially drawn up a concept of having Roche appear at the last battle on the Midgar Highway, but we thought that he might ruin the serious mood of the ending sequence, so we scrapped that idea. We also thought to put him in as a boss battle in the Chapter 14 slums, but since you can’t really race around on a motorbike in the slums, we unfortunately could not make it work. Roche’s spontaneity is one of his character traits that stands out though, so there’s a high chance that he’ll appear in the next installment (laughs).

—In the Remake, the characters have a lot of banter when they’re walking around or fighting battles, and the dialogue is not always the same either. Did you oversee the types of conversations that were put in?

Toriyama: All scenarios were checked and supervised by me and Nojima-san. We actually had a lot more lines prepared in the script for dialogue spoken by characters in boss battles, but somewhere around the middle of production, we eventually cut out the frequency of giving out hints and instead left it to the players to think about what to do. This in turn caused us to cut a lot of dialogue out.

—Are there any specific episodes, scenes, or dialogue that you were interested in or wanted to include?

Toriyama: The AVALANCHE base at the bottom of Seventh Heaven in the original game was an interesting area that left an impression on me, but since Cloud is not very close with AVALANCHE in the Remake, we wanted to show that distance between them, which made us leave out that scene. Although I really wanted to have Barret punching that sandbag in the Remake, I had to restrain myself (laughs).

—Lastly, is there anything you would like to say to the readers?

Toriyama: Even though the first installment of the “FFVII Remake” has ended, the story has only just begun. While listening to the voices of the fans, we also hope to make the next installments something that would exceed your expectations. I personally also played the original game again after finishing the Remake. While waiting for the next installment, I hope you can enjoy the differences in the Remake’s portrayal of Midgar and also have fun imagining what kinds of things lie ahead in the next game too!

---------

CO-DIRECTOR HAMAGUCHI NAOKI INTERVIEW

—Now that the game has been released, how are you feeling?

Hamaguchi: I felt very relieved after seeing the user feedback after the game was released. I fully joined the development team for FF7R in 2017 when the fans had been waiting for this game for quite some time already. So I made it my mission to ensure that fans do not wait longer than 3 years for the completion of the game. FF7 is a game that many people have come to love, so there was a real sense of responsibility to carry, but even so, the development team staff is composed of people who are extremely passionate about FF7, so we were able to enjoy making this game while progressing on its development.

—Since you were involved with the development of the game, was there anything you were concerned about?

Hamaguchi: What was constantly said to the team was that we must “respect the original game.” We were not creating a new game that is only inspired by the characters and world of FFVII, but we strove to create a game where the elements of the original are remade using the latest game design and graphics, making it feel “nostalgic yet new.” If we were to stray far away from the source material, then people might think “this is not the FFVII that I know,” so we tried to follow the original story but added details that we could not add 20 years ago using the latest technology. With that, we were able to focus on enriching the story to create an experience that is still “the FFVII that l know, but with a lot more new things waiting to be discovered.”

Hamaguchi: The Remake was made possible by the enthusiasm from the entire staff. During the production of this game, the task division between the development staff was even more than another Final Fantasy numbered game. For example, a person in charge of location would usually be a level designer that would spend 2-3 years on a single location’s design, execution, and then implementation, and we had specific staff designated to work on all the locations as well. For battle parts, we had a single person in charge of 2-3 bosses at a time, and a level designers also oversaw everything from design to implementation. With this scheme, we were able to have each game designer focus on only the parts that they are designated with, which allowed them to be enthusiastic and particular with the production of their areas. However, because of this, each game designer felt very strongly of their work that they poured their all into, so in order to not lose satisfaction, wemade it a priority to view the contents as a whole within the team. By doing this, we were able to combine everyone’s vision into the end product.

—Without having the battle system be solely either a Command RPG or Action style, it must have been challenging to fuse the two together. During development, there must have been some trial and error to get it right, but was there any part that was specifically concerning or challenging?

Hamaguchi: One of the most particular parts was how we were going to incorporate the ATB Battle System. We didn’t want to incorporate a completely new battle style that was different than the original, so we were inspired by the original FF7’s ATB battle system to create a new and improved one that also works in real time. Of course, I’m sure that the action elements we added gives off a very fresh impression, but the root of the system is from the ATB battle system, allowing us to incorporate a sense of nostalgia to the battle system. The part we worked extremely hard on was how to fuse together action and command style elements. Many of the development team staff including myself have a long history working with command RPGs, so we are very confident with that type of battle style in that field. However, when we tried adding action elements in, there was a sense of discord within the battle system we had.

The part we were stuck on was that implementing a command system will cause the the user to have too much information in regards to fighting strategy, and that would only cause issues if we were also going to add real time action options too. When we were doing trial and error to figure out how to draw the line between how many action and command elements we could add, Battle Director Endou Teruki was able to join our team. He is extremely versed with action battle systems and how to develop them, so as soon as he saw what we had created, he immediately pointed out that we were lacking features in regards to the action elements of the battle system. Since we were having trouble figuring out a balance between the action and command elements, we couldn’t really answer what we were lacking since we just simply added in action elements, so we were not able to create a very refreshing experience. Luckily, Endou was able to concentrate on the action parts and balanced out the battle system with fast paced command RPG strategy as well as action elements, which is what you see in the finished product.

—In terms of creating an action battle system, I’m sure there were concerns about the increasing difficulty of that fighting style. For those who are not fond of action battle systems, there’s also the option of “CLASSIC Mode,” but was there anything else you were particularly conscious about?

Hamaguchi: For those who only wanted to enjoy the game’s story, we implemented EASY Mode, for those who wanted to enjoy the command RPG style of fighting, we also created the CLASSIC mode, so there are different play styles you can choose from. Since the “CLASSIC mode” was something we tried for the first time, we were excited to hear the reactions of the players, and I think the reviews have been favorable. We heard comments from users who enjoyed the Normal mode’s difficulty level but in the CLASSIC mode style, so we will refer to their feedback in the future as well.

—Since the game’s release, I’m sure that most people have viewed the battle system in a very favorable light. What do you think about the reactions that you have seen thus far?

Hamaguchi: We feel that we have delivered the exact type of battle experience that users can accept. I think this is thanks to the way we were able to create a system that not only reimagines the ATB battle system in real time form, but we also pays homage to the Command RPG style, which leaves a sense of nostalgia while giving a fresh new experience to the battle style. I’m sure there are a lot of people who are interested in what kind of battle system we have in store for the next installment too. We would like the battle system to be even more customizable with more action and command strategies that users can curate into their own playing style, giving an even newer experience, so please look forward to that!

—It seems that the level cap at 50 has some limitations in regards to your status attributes and range, and since various weapons have their own strengths, it seems like you put thought into balancing out battles. In regular RPGs, characters grow and their weapons become stronger, but it feels like this was done in moderation. Was this balance something that the development team had planned from the beginning?

Hamaguchi: When we were stuck on how to create the battle system, we made changes to optimize the balance of the battle system. We wanted a balance that also incorporated the original FF7’s customizable options with materia, and Battle Director Endou also had the same thoughts. However, if we allowed players to get as many materia as they would like, then they could technically give the same set of materia to each character, which would defeat the purpose of giving each character their own unique abilities. Thus, we decided to put limits on the amount of attributes you can have. Moreso than putting a moderation on gaining strength, we wanted players to have fun with the strategies that they could incorporate by using different materia or weapons. If you were to redo a battle, you could try other ways of setting up your weapons and materia to create a stress free battle, and I thought that was an important function to have.

—Boss battles within the game have different stages where the attacks or field changes, such as the Sword Dance battle that splits between two parties during the fight. Was this concept of having battles be set up in different stages as the fight progressed something that was decided during the beginning of production?

Hamaguchi: That’s right. I told the team during the beginning that boss battles would be executed out in phases. Many of the bosses within each chapter contain some of the most exciting reveals, so we wanted players to be able to feel immersed within the story even through the boss battles. In order to do that, we constructed each boss battle to have several different phases where the battle strategy changes and also focuses on the story at the same time. We also paid attention to the party structure. In particular, we spent a lot of time and effort to solidify the party structure during the battle with Sephiroth. The battle with the Whisper Harbinger that leads to the climax fight with Sephiroth is one that changes automatically as does the structure of the party you are fighting with, so the protagonists need to work together in order to challenge their own fate.

However, we felt that if we were to do the same type of structure during Sephiroth’s battle, then it might become tedious to the player. For example, if we were to take away one of the protagonists out of the four, then the fans of that protagonist might feel let down. Because of that, we decided that the characters who join you during the Sephiroth battle will depend on how you fought during the Whisper Harbinger battle. However, in order to do this, we would have to create a ton of cutscenes depending on the order that the characters appear in, and even now I remember the look on the cutscene team member’s faces when I proposed the idea and the blank stares that I received (laughs). Because the Final Fantasy Series is one that is known for having a large amount of cutscenes, I am really grateful for the cutscene team member’s assistance in not just the Sephiroth battle scene, but for working so hard on all cutscenes within the series too.

—There are weapons, accessories, materia, and items that were added into the Remake that were not present in the original game, but was there any particular reason for doing this?

Hamaguchi: Right before the game went gold, I actually made an absurd request to the team to add the “Pedometer” materia. You get this materia at the start of Chapter 14, and since you’re there to help people out with odds and ends within the Sector 5 and Sector 6 slums, you would need to walk around the areas a lot. Since you had visited these areas within Chapter 8 and Chapter 9 already, there wouldn’t be many changes, so I thought to give players a reason for walking around these places again by adding in this materia. I actually originally called the materia the “Step” materia, but I noticed that Toriyama changed the name to the “Pedometer” materia instead (laughs). I was reminded of it again when I saw the strategy book refer to that name.

—Is there any specific monster enemy or battle (whether it be within the Colosseum or Battle Simulator) that piqued your interest?

Hamaguchi: The “Level 7 Top Secret Battle” has quite a shock factor. The person in charge of battle planning asked me, “Does it make sense for Bahamut to summon Ifrit?” Since they are fighting in a virtual reality, it wouldn’t be a problem, so I answered “Yeah, go for it!” without thinking too much about it. However, when I was doing a play check for the difficulty level of the battle, I remember being shocked (laughs). When that happens, you’d probably panic and think that you should defeat Ifrit first, but it’s actually more advantageous to focus on attacking Bahamut instead. This battle was the most difficult one for me and left quite an impression.

—I’m sure that there are several younger development staff who never played the original FFVII, so were there any instances where there was a bit of a generation gap?

Hamaguchi: Since the original game was so widely loved by fans everywhere, there were a lot of younger staff members who were scared of making changes. On the other hand, Producer Kitase wanted big changes (laughs). Nomura and I saw the Remake as an homage to the original game, so if we were to change anything, we made sure that it would be something planned with a specific reason that fans could accept.

—Did you have any ideas or wishes that you were entertaining by yourself that was then made a reality in this game?

Hamaguchi: It’s not something I was entertaining for a while, but having an automatic weapon growth system was something that I focused on before working on FF7R since I was on the development team for the “Mobius Final Fantasy” game, which left a strong impression on me. Since a smartphone game operates in a way that you return to it on a daily basis, lots of things are automated as much as possible to create a smooth experience. There’s also a card synthesis system within the game that allows for an automated way to synthesize your cards, so that was a point that I thought would be nice to have in FF7R where weapons could automatically level up as well. I’m always thinking about the consumer side when developing games, and being able to see customer reactions in real time, such as when I was developing smartphone games, gave me an environment to try out a lot of ideas I had. I think that was a great experience for me.

—As a gamer, was there anything in particular from FF7R that surprised or impressed you?

Hamaguchi: Although I myself was involved too, I’m still very impressed that we were able to successfully create a game from start to finish without making compromises to any of the large amount of data we had. This is all thanks to not only Nomura, Toriyama, and other directors such as me, but also to the game designers, graphics team, sound team, system staff, and more. All of us had various responsibilities as creators, and it’s because of the best efforts of everyone that we were able to make this game possible. I’m personally very excited to make the next game with the same team members again!

—FFVII Remake is highly praised as a game with amazing quality with the latest technology, but was there anything that was challenging or something that you did not personally oversee but was still impressed with the outcome?

Hamaguchi: Seeing the world of FFVII open up through its story is one of the highlights that makes the game so enjoyable, but the user experience and story immersion could be greatly impacted with too many loading screens and wait times. We therefore kept a technical eye on the loading system since the beginning. In order to do this, we aligned the data with each situation so that it could simultaneously load, which allowed us to not have the loading screen appear during the middle of the chapter. During the last cutscene of each chapter, the next chapter’s data would already be loading in the background, which allowed for the load screen between chapters to also be as short as possible. We also added tips to read on the load screen, but because the loading times are so short, it’s also difficult to read all of them. It made me cry out with joy!

—Lastly, is there anything you would like to say to the readers?

Hamaguchi: The first installment of the “FFVII Remake Project” was centered around Midgar, and we strived to recreate a Midgar that you could not experience in the original story, showcasing the hustle and bustle of the lives of the people there as well as the environment. The next installment will then shift to the other parts of the world since the characters have escaped from Midgar in the story. We hope to create a game that allows you to experience the charm and allure of the world of FFVII from the various lives of the people as well as the environments that will be present. Production for the next installment is already under way, and our team is putting their all into the advancement of the game. Although there is still a wait, we hope that you can look forward to what we have in store!

#final fantasy 7 #ff7r #final fantasy 7 remake #ff7 #final fantasy vii remake #ffvii #final fantasy #cloud #aerith #tifa #barret #red xiii #reno #rude #tseng #rufus #my translations

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goldenkamuyhunting · 3 years

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Tell me if I'm being crazy here but I was just wondering if you feel like the Ogata in the anime is an inaccurate representation of the Ogata we get in the manga? And if you feel the same as me why may that be? I really can't nail it but it's bothering me watching him in it. Like they missed the point of his character.

Well...

...in itself all the characters are inaccurately represented in the anime.

There are some problems that come with the anime adaptation:

- the first is not really a fault of who creates the anime, merely a consequence of the anime being a different medium. As a result some things can’t be delivered in the same way as the manga.

For example this is one of the spread pages in which Noda plays with the contrast between what happens in one half and what happens in the other half.

On one side we’ve Sugimoto and Asirpa eating warm food together, safe and happy, on the other we’ve Ogata being shown alone (although we know there’s people around him) about to freeze to death and in a poor shape.

You can’t just get the same effect on the anime.

We see a similar trick also used in a scene that seems to foreshadow the ‘cat alliance’. In this three panel we see Edogai’s cat and then, below his panel, two panel showing Wildcat Ogata and Tiget Kiroranke exchanging a nod as they turn at the same time.

You just can’t get the same effect in the anime but the anime didn’t even made an effort as it didn’t show the cat falling on the ground (or better, it’ll show it but later on) but just Ogata first and Kiro after, both clearly looking at Hijikata without turning, Ogata’s expression different from the original (change of expressions is a point in which I’ll dig later).

...and the same goes for other ‘manga only’ ways to show things. For example the manga can use a swirling shade to imply that Ogata is actually in turmoil despite looking calm on the outside.

The anime wouldn’t be able to do such thing without making the draws looking weird. Of course some anime would find different ways to drive home the same concept (from a certain music to moving the whole swirling to the background or things like that)... but Geno tends to miss those details.

Anyway this might seems minor, many believe they don’t notice this sort of details... but actually most of those details are meant to pass below your conscious radar, and give you a determinate feeling without you quite realizing it. They shape the background of your opinion on the characters or of their relations or of the themes of the story.

- another problem is something for which the adaptation can be partly blamed and it’s the matter of cutting scenes. We should probably split the anime adaptation into the three series because they had different fates.

A premise. Out of late anime series have started being created for being 12 episodes series for commercial reasons. I won’t get into details on the why but this affected GK as all its series are 12 episodes and, to fit all the amount they decided to fit in 12 episodes, cutting scenes was mandatory in many cases. You just wouldn’t manage to put everything in them.

Plus, many anime series aren’t created to cover the whole storyline but just a part of it, using the anime series merely as a way to promote the manga (and likely, originally GK was planned to be a mere 12 episodes series).

Now, in GK case...

The first series adapted most of the story. There were however some relevant cuts that affected the series, the main one being how they completely removed Umeko from the plot something that hugely affected Sugimoto’s characterization but also, will come to bite back in future series with the result it’ll affect Sugimoto and Asirpa. Another notable cut was the Barato arc. They recovered it in the OAD, but if you don’t watch the OAD but just the anime, you’ve a great hole in the plot development. If the series has stopped at 12 episodes and had been merely a promotional mean for the story it wouldn’t have been a big deal but we know ultimately it continued. I would also say in some points it felt a bit rushed... but again, it could have worked for a promotional series... while it feels pretty bad for an ongoing one.

The second series was... a mess. It cuts left and right without really paying care to connect well the various parts of the story. Parts of the cuts had a reason to be, as some scenes seemed hard to transpose in an anime (think Anehata), others though were just cut so that they would fit in the 12 episodes quota all the plot that was missing to cover the story up till Abashiri, when the series would have benefitted greatly if they had stopped sooner instead than making a mad rush for Abashiri that translated in a cutting fest. They then recovered the Shiraishi arc, the giant snake arc, the boss Wakayama arc, the Anehata arc in 3 OAD (but we still miss the Lighting bandit arc and the fake Ainu arc), but it’s worth to mention some of whose OAD clearly weren’t planned, as they can’t connect anymore with the series which cut them in such a way they can’t be reinserted anymore.

The third series tried again adapting everything except the Sekiya arc and the Koito past arc. Overall though, despite those two cuts, they tried to adapt the most they could and at a decent pace, which allows the third series to come out as the best of the 3.

Result of this all?

The characterization of most of the characters, especially if you watch only the anime series without the OAD (or with the OAD but not placed in the order in which the manga storyline would have placed them), suffers of a lot of cuts that are instead important for their development.

Ogata is, of course, among the ones affected.

Some cuts are small, for example here we see him explaining that he’s not just randomly escaping, but that he has assested the situation and a retreat was the smartest thing he could do.

The same goes here, with Ogata again analyzing the situation and planning countermeasures as well as taking care of their weaknesses (warning Nikaidou to hide his binoculars).

And the same goes here

Ogata is even capable to point out that Hijikata’s plan might suceed at first but not in the long run, which shows a capacity of analysis of the big picture.

Plot wise this kind of cuts are meaningless, they don’t change the story but, character wise, they rob Ogata of one of his main characteristics, observing a situation, analyzing it and being fast to come up with a valid course of action.

You’ll find many cuts through the anime series and they touch various aspects of each character.

Sometimes those cuts affected lines exchanged between characters so that the relationships felt different because some things were just left unsaid.

Other cuts affected the boxes explaining things, for example in the anime we aren’t told why Ogata eats snow but we’re supposed to figure out on our own, or how the bear could sneak up without Ogata and Nikaidou noticing or how Ogata learnt during the war that he had to avoid hitting vital parts to slow his pursuers down and so on.

Then there are the HUGE cuts, the one I mentioned before, that involved plot threads (Umeko) or entire arcs, or had arcs placed in OAD that not everyone saw or that don’t well connect with the anime.

The Barato Arc and the Anehata arc both involved Ogata significantly, so not seeing the OAD affects the understanding of the character.

The fake Ainu arc being cut stripped Ogata of a lot of scenes, among which Sugimoto’s stubborn refusal of Ogata’s logical theory (those Ainu are fake) as well as didn’t show how Ogata saved Sugimoto’s life by shooting to a fake Ainu who was about to kill Sugimoto, returning Sugimoto’s favour (Sugimoto saved him while they were in Edogai’s house).

The Lighting bandit arc in the manga worked well to tie with the fact Ogata was a child born from parents who didn’t love each other. The anime kept Ogata’s backstory (and animated it mostly rather well) but it felt less strong since it lacked the frame of the Lighting bandit arc... and the worst part is we lost this bit.

The constant cutting of Umeko from the plot ended up causing the scene in which Sugimoto replied to Asirpa he was searching the gold to take care of a friend’s widow and Ogata pointed out how that widow was the woman Sugimoto loved and also realized how Asirpa was crushing for Sugimoto. The lack of this bit affects how we read the whole scene on the ice in Karafuto.

The fact the anime decided to skip the Anehata arc, changed the reunion between Ogata and Tanigaki making Ogata’s reaction to the death of Tamai and Co and to the discovery of how they actually died weaker and even deprived us of Sugimoto’s recurring ‘don’t trust Ogata’ to Asirpa who instead trust him, affecting how the relations were presented. This cause the relationship between Sugimoto and Ogata to look much better than it was.

Also, they removed Ogata’s presence once they were in the blind bandits house. He entered in it with Sugimoto but then the anime decided to have him disappear and left Sugi to handle it all when in the manga Ogata was there to help.

- another HUGE problem are the transposition choices. The biggest fault of the first series is to tend to present the character from a distance or from behind, hardly showing us their expressions. The Japanese voice actors (sorry I hadn’t tried out the dubs), expecially Tsuda Kenjiro, Ogata’s voice actor, do try their best but sometimes you just need to see the faces to get a feeling of what they’re feelings.

Look at this manga scene in which we see Ogata’s expression trice.

Do you know what they showed us in the anime? This.

Basically the anime put entirely on Tsuda Kenjiro the burden of delivering to the viewers Ogata’s displeased and suspicious feelings. Only Tsuda Kenjiro was instructed on keeping Ogata mostly toneless so, while he’s still an awesome actor and there are differences in his performance that give out what Ogata is feeling, they don’t come out as obvious as the visual of the manga, especially to a not Japanese viewer. It’s not a choice to keep Ogata mysterious, it’s a specific problem of the 1st anime series which does it with many, many characters, Sugimoto and Asirpa included because drawing and recycling such a scene takes less effort than animating all the panels that were in the manga.

It’s a problem mostly of the first series though, as the two following series were more expression friendly but... but the expressions they showed in all three series were often different from the ones used in the manga. Look at how in this scene Ogata is serious, I’ll say worried in the manga since his face is shadowed and as he understands something might be up but he has no idea what he is, but he clearly doesn’t like this development...

...while he grins in the anime, his face well light as if he’s having the best day of his life.

Then when he’s proudly showing off what he knows in the manga he smiles...

while in the anime he feels down.

Smiling with his eyes raised...

...versus not smiling with his eyes lowered.

...and so on and I don’t even know why they felt the need to change the various characters’ expressions (yeah, it’s not just an Ogata’s problem) as there’s simply no reason to do it.

On an interesting note the anime chose to expand some fighting scenes. Ogata’s first fight with Sugimoto is longer, as Ogata manages to swing his bayonet a little before ending up on the ground (which is detrimental of Sugimoto who’s WAY more amazing of a fighter than him as Sugimoto can fight on par with Gansoku and Ushiyama) and felt the need to stretch the confrontation with Tsukishima too.

In the manga Tsukishima just kicks Ogata, Ogata notices Tsukishima is taking then gun and then tosses himself behind the stuffed people as he was still in that room. In the anime Ogata is in the room with the stuffed bear instead. Tsukishima kicks him behind it but then Ogata manages to spring out the room and go hid behind the stuffed people in the other room.

On another note, when in Edogai’s house Ogata is being beaten up by a soldier in the manga it’s shown he’s trying to protect himself with his arms while in the anime he seems to remain there completely still... and the anime put a sudden focus on Ogata’s eyes to switch at Sugimoto attacking the soldier and, at the same time pushing him away from Ogata, as if Ogata knew that he wouldn’t die there because Sugimoto was there to cover up for him, where in the manga there’s no emphasis on Ogata’s eyes and the two scenes are cut by how one has to turn page... plus Sugimoto hit the soldier so that he fell above Ogata so it’s clear Ogata wouldn’t have managed to glimpse Sugimoto.

- Lastly yes, they missed the point of many of his interactions. For example the anime makers said they believed since Ogata’s mom kept on making the anglerfish nabe, it was because Ogata liked it, a sign she liked her son... when, according to the story, she kept on making it because it was his father’s favourite dish and she had gotten mad. In Karafuto they downplayed Asirpa’s efforts to have Ogata say citatap and hinna and completely missed how Ogata was allucinating her as Yuusaku...

(I mean in this scene is pretty obvious there’s a parallel between the two so I’m not sure how the anime missed it)

...and the anime seems to put more focus on how the lynx and Ogata’s tracks superimposed than on how Ogata is now walking on a different path from the lynx... just to list some of the things that came to my mind.

For more I’ve a couple of tags in which I compared the episode transposition and the manga one in details or a little more vaguely.

So, long story short, anime Ogata can’t help but give a different impression compared to manga Ogata.

He misses part of his story, his interactions are different, his expressions are changed, scenes that were meant to deliver certain things aren’t there so of course he seems another person.

It’s not done specifically to him though, as everyone suffered about this.

The anime, in his attempt to make the story simple and more... ‘shonen’ friendly has taken away much of the grey concepts for a more black and white picture which influenced also how situations were presented.

But well, while I’m not satisfied, part of this is done to market the show to a wider audience so it’s kind of a forced choice.

(On a sidenote it’s worth to remember that the anime adapt the volume version of the story which differs from the mangazine version in some relevant points. So not all the changes are completely made up by the anime.)

I hope it helps. Thank you for your ask!

#Golden Kamuy #Ogata Hyakunosuke #Golden Kamuy Manga vs Anime #Golden Kamuy Episode #Ask

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jemmahazelnut · 3 years

Text

Two broken hearts with matching sides - Chapter 9

Link: AO3

Notes: I'm so sorry it took me so long. This is the last chapter, I hope you like it.

Here you can find Chapter One, Chapter Two, Chapter Three, Chapter Four, Chapter Five, Chapter Six, Chapter Seven, Chapter Eight.

Together again

“Do you remember how we met?” Laxus asked, placing his skateboard on the grass and sitting in front of the skatepark where they always went to have fun.

“Yeah,” laughed Freed. “You hit me while you were on the skateboard,” he said.

“Technically it was your fault,” Laxus pointed out.

“Really? Because I remember I was standing still, and you failed to stop in time and fell on me,” Freed declared. Laxus smiled and rolled his eyes.

“You stopped at the last,” he objected.

“I don’t think so. It’s just that you’ve always had slow reflexes,” Freed chuckled. Laxus shook his head but didn’t reply.

Also, it’s not like Freed was all wrong. Laxus had lost control of the skateboard that afternoon and was unable to stop or turn in time, so he crashed into Freed and the two fell to the ground on each other. He had been lucky that Freed wasn’t one of those assholes he would have fought with, even though the boy had still told him to ‘learn to ride a skateboard’, as if Laxus didn’t already know how to do it.

Thinking about it, he just laughed. Freed sat across from him on the red skateboard. “And remember that time we crashed into Gildarts’ car?” he asked.

“Don’t remind me,” Laxus laughed and turned to the bar. The man was there and was drinking a glass of wine already early in the morning. Not much had changed in those years. “That old man made us clean the whole bar for at least a whole week.”

“Yeah, my mom was so mad,” Freed said placing his chin on his fist.

“My grandpa too,” Laxus said. “That bastard even seized my skateboard.”

“But then we got it back, thanks to me,” Freed reminded him.

“Yeah, and he pissed off even more,” he concluded and the two chuckled at the memory.

Makarov had forced them to dig the garden just to tire them as much as possible, and then he had made them arrange twenty quintals of wood, and had forced them to help the neighbor too. All in the same afternoon. The two had returned to Makarov’s house so tired that they had fallen asleep on the sofa without even having dinner.

“You say we were little vandals?” Laxus asked.

“Nah, we’ve never done anything that terrible” replied Freed quietly “We were just kids full of energy.” Laxus laughed, thinking they were downright rowdy. But it was nice to think back to those times in company, doing it with Freed was much better than doing it alone. Because now Freed was still there.

Laxus turned to the boy and found himself smiling genuinely happy to be there with him. They had spent so many moments in that park, from the happiest to the saddest. That was where they met, that was where they had fun, that was where they went when they skipped school, that was where they had their first kiss. And that was where they’d had that discussion that broke their hearts.

Freed turned to him and for a moment was surprised to see that Laxus was staring at him. Then his face relaxed into a sweet smile and Laxus felt, perhaps stupidly, his heart do a somersault in his chest.

Even after a long time things hadn’t changed. It was always the two of them, a little different and a little grown up, but in the end, they still managed to have that complicity that bound them.

“Do you remember Lucy’s party?” Freed asked suddenly. Laxus nodded. How can we forget it? It was at that party that the two had kissed, lying on the grass and with alcohol in their bodies. Despite this, Laxus remembered everything. To be honest, Laxus remembered every night he spent with Freed. He lied when he told his friend that with alcohol he didn’t remember half of the things they did. And he regretted it bitterly.

“And do you remember...?” Freed didn’t finish the sentence.

“Yup”.

Freed and Laxus looked at each other for a few seconds in silence, facing each other, each sitting on his skateboard. They didn’t need to say it to understand what they were both thinking. They both remembered their first kiss, the uncertain and awkward one they had shared secretly from the others.

The one that had sent Laxus completely out of his mind, because he had found himself addicted to Freed’s lips, and at the same time had scared him of what he had felt.

God, Laxus wanted to push forward and kiss him again. He wanted to know if it would be different or if it would be as good as it was then. Or if it would have been even better, because now they were both grown up and finally cleared up. They both wanted a love story.

Hell, they both wanted a love story. What the fuck were they waiting for? It was so stupid, just because they didn’t want to make the mistake of years ago didn’t mean they couldn’t kiss. Laxus’s eyes ran all over Freed’s face until they reached his lips.

He seriously wanted to crash into it, close that gap one once and for all and finally be with Freed.

“What are we waiting for?” the question came out of Laxus’ mouth without him being able to control. He returned his gaze to Freed’s eyes, who was looking at him with a strange light in his irises.

“I don’t know,” he replied.

Laxus then pushed his body forward, excitedly noticing that Freed was doing the same. He closed his eyes and pressed his lips to the boy’s, letting his actions speak for him. He placed one hand on the grass to keep himself balanced, with the other hand he gently took Freed’s cheek.

They slowly moved against each other, kissing softly and ignoring the world around them, as when they did it as teenagers. Only now they weren’t drunk, they didn’t hide from anyone, and they didn’t have to do it at night in order not to be seen by anyone. Now the morning sun illuminated both of their faces, as well as their real feelings.

***

“You say they’ll forgive us?” Freed asked with a full package of Japanese food in his hand.

“I hope so,” said Laxus, who was carrying beers instead, entering the elevator.

The two smiled, hoping that the roommates wouldn’t go out of their minds to know the news, which was that they were dating. Officially. Freed still felt excited thinking about it. Evergreen would have killed him, given how he had made her damned. He hoped the food would be enough to reassure her.

Once they got to their floor, they entered the apartment shouting goodbye to the roommates.

“Japanese for everyone! What are we celebrating?” Bickslow asked cheerfully, taking the sack from Freed’s hands and starting to take out the plates. Evergreen was already sitting comfortably on the sofa.

“Er... our engagement,” Laxus said, blushing slightly.

All of Bickslow’s enthusiasm disappeared and the boy looked up at them.

“Serious?” he asked.

“Well, not engagement in the true sense of the word” Freed was keen to clarify “But yes, we’re dating” he added with a smile.

“Well, it was time you dated,” Bickslow commented as he opened a tub full of noodles. Laxus and Freed frowned slightly.

“What does ‘it was time’ mean?” asked the blond. They both thought the two friends would be more surprised and thrilled. Instead, it seemed that they already knew everything.

“It’s since Laxus came out that we thought you two should be together,” Evergreen revealed.

“What?” asked the astonished blond.

“Come on, you were so close and… well, even when I didn’t know you were gay I thought so. You were together all the time,” Evergreen said. Bickslow nodded and Laxus and Freed sat on the sofa, a little disappointed by that reaction.

“You never said anything,” Freed noted.

“Well, we tried to do it when you left, but you were both two walls,” Bickslow explained. Freed and Laxus didn’t reply and began to eat.

“Anyway, we wanted to thank you. If it weren’t for you, we would never have solved our problems,” Freed said.

“Speaking of this,” Evergreen began. “If you want to be forgiven, I want to know what happened between you two and why the hell you weren’t talking,” she clarified, and her tone didn’t allow for replies. Freed and Laxus exchanged a glance and sighed in resignation. Besides, they didn’t have much to hide now, and Ever and Bickslow had been really patient with them.

“Let’s say there have been some misunderstandings,” Freed said.

“Really? Did you fight and punch each other only for misunderstandings?” Evergreen snapped. Laxus felt ridiculous enough now to explain the story, to think back they had been two idiots.

“Yes,” Freed replied calmly instead.

Then they both began to explain the situation, how they both had a crush in the last year of high school and how they ended up becoming a kind of friends with benefits, and then completely detaching themselves. Evergreen and Bickslow listened to them in silence, curious and a little surprised to discover certain things. When the story ended Evergreen was still very skeptical.

“Are you telling me you were fucking and didn’t realize that you were both in love for each other?” she asked. Hell, it made them look like morons.

“Well, we’ve never fucked” Freed pointed out.

Unfortunately, Laxus thought, and blushed at the thought. It also wasn’t really as simplistic as Evergreen said. If only he hadn’t persisted in dating Jenny, and if only Freed had been open to his emotions, they would have understood each other. But that had confused everything and, Laxus had to admit, he had really thought that Freed didn’t care about him, after how cold he had been.

“Either way, you’re two idiots,” Evergreen commented. Freed and Laxus rolled their eyes but didn’t reply and exchanged a glance and a brief smile, happy to have overcome all that. They spent the rest of the evening together with the two friends, eating and deciding to watch a movie that suited everyone.

***

The movie ended when it was almost one in the morning and everyone went to the bathroom to wash and sleep. Freed walked into his room with a smile and lay back on the bed, closing his eyes and looking back on his day. If he still thought about how things had changed with Laxus, he found himself smiling like a fool. God, after three years he was still as in love as he was when he was just a teenager. It was ridiculous, but he felt good.

He turned on his side and thought about how he and Laxus had decided to get engaged and not go around the subject anymore. They had done well, and luckily Laxus had taken the initiative, he honestly didn’t know if he would ever have the courage to do it.

He heard a knock on the door and surprised Freed sat up in bed, then turned on the light of the bedside lamp and told anyone to come in. Laxus came out from behind the door.

“Can I come in?” he asked.

“Sure,” Freed replied. The blond entered the room and closed the door behind him. He looked around uncomfortably and Freed looked at him confused. “Did you need something?” he asked.

“Um... well, I just wanted to be with you for a while,” Laxus admitted awkwardly with a slight blush on his face. Freed smiled softly and made room for him in the bed, inviting him to sit. Laxus did so and they both leaned their backs against the wall. They looked at each other for a moment and then exchanged a sweet and quick kiss, which again caused a certain warmth in Freed’s stomach.

“You say we really were two idiots?” Laxus asked referring to how Evergreen had called them earlier when they told them why they have fought.

“Maybe we are,” Freed admitted with a smile. He honestly didn’t care, he wanted all their misunderstandings to be just a memory. Laxus laughed slightly and ran a hand over Freed’s knee. Freed walked over to him, so that their arms touched. After so much time acting like idiots, he wanted to enjoy the contact with Laxus as much as possible, and he was glad that the blonde also seemed to want the same.

“You know, I wanted to kiss you from the moment I saw you in boxers when I walked into your room,” Laxus admitted in a half laugh. Freed raised his eyebrows in surprise and the blonde continued. “Or rather, I wanted to hit you against the wall, punch you and then kiss you.” Freed laughed slightly.

“Well, if you want to know, I wanted to do it when I saw you with Rufus. Even though my idea was to kiss you in front of him, punch him and throw him out of the apartment, and then punch you” he revealed and it was Laxus’ time to laugh.

“I was hoping you were jealous, even if it didn’t seem like it,” he commented. Freed’s eyes widened slightly.

“Did you go out with him just to make me jealous?” he asked surprised.

“Well, for that too,” Laxus admitted. “Not only for that, at least I can say I have a type.” Freed frowned. He hated being compared to Rufus. He still didn’t understand what was similar between them.

“Don’t compare me to him anymore. Seriously, we couldn’t be more different. He’s a presumptuous arrogant who thinks he’s above everyone else,” he said a little sourly. Well, he was still jealous and still the idea of Laxus and Rufus dating made him nervous. Laxus smiled and squeezed his knee, perhaps to calm him down.

“A bit like you,” he said though.

“Do you consider me a presumptuous arrogant?” Freed asked, stunned, and a little offended. He really wasn’t, he was still thinking with some irritation about Rufus.

“Well, you’re a little bit,” Laxus smiled. “And Rufus isn’t so presumptuous. Are you sure you aren’t saying this just because you’re jealous?”.

“Of course. Besides, I’ve no doubt that I’m better than him in many ways,” Freed commented. Did they have to talk about Rufus?

“About being presumptuous,” Laxus murmured and Freed gave him a dirty look. The blonde left him a quick kiss on his lips, which calmed him slightly. “In any case, you controlled yourself well, if I had seen someone go out with you, I would’ve surely punched him” he said seriously. Freed smiled.

“Do we have to talk about the other guys?” he asked. He would have preferred to spend a quiet evening with Laxus, and he doubted that the blonde had come in to talk about their past relationships or about Rufus.

“No,” Laxus smiled. “Actually I went in for something else,” he said, looking away and staring at the wardrobe in front of them. Freed looked at him curiously, waiting for the blonde to go on. For a moment he feared that he wanted to tell him something bad, but when he saw the boy’s cheeks blush, he calmed down a bit.

“I want you to know that I’m in love with you,” Laxus said and Freed was silent for a moment, feeling a flush of heat rising from his stomach. Laxus continued talking. “I know it’s early and it may sound stupid to you, but I really want there to be nothing more unspoken between us and… I love you, Freed. I did it years ago, even if I didn’t want to admit it, and I still do today” he revealed, continuing to stare at the wardrobe. Freed felt his heart beating furiously in his chest. He took Laxus’s hand between his.

“I love you too,” he said. Laxus’s face broke into a smile, and his shoulders relaxed.

Then the two boys pushed against each other to kiss. They hugged in a tight embrace and joined their lips in a more intense kiss than all those they had exchanged up to that moment. Freed felt that Laxus was pushing him to lie down on the bed and didn’t object.

He found himself lying with his back against the mattress, with Laxus on top of him. He ran his hands through Laxus’ hair so he didn’t move away from him. He had wanted that moment for so long. Not just sex with Laxus, but his love.

They broke away panting and looked into each other’s eyes.

“Can I sleep here?” the blond asked in a hoarse voice.

“You can do more” was Freed’s reply. Laxus smiled and leaned over him, capturing his lips again. Finally, they were together again.

#fraxus #freed justine #laxus dreyar #freed x laxus #fanfiction

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meimi-haneoka · 4 years

Text

Translation differences and comments for Clear Card ch. 45

Man this time around it felt like forever.

No, I’m serious, I can’t even remember when was last time chapter 44 was published. The break this time felt so long, and it was, usually they take just one issue of vacation.

I’m really glad they decided to have Tomoyo on the cover, since a good part of the fandom was complaining about not seeing her as often as before, with all the reasons, and so this was a nice return ❤ The text you can find on the double color spread sounds more or less like “If I am with you, then everyday can be happy”. It’s really cute, and as usual, CLAMP balance out the creepiness and heaviness of the chapter with a cute cover. Impeccable. That’s CLAMP for you. 💢

The first translation difference can already be spotted on page 3, when in English Syaoran says “It’s surprising, isn’t it? I remember when I first met his dad” when actually in Japanese he’s way less chatty and limits himself to a “I was surprised too, at first/the first time (I saw him)”. You see, making the translation more “personal” is okay and all, but not when your choices modify the talking style and the personality of a character. Syaoran is really a taciturn boy, and when he talks, he makes sure to say the less words possible, so much that sometimes he eats up entire parts of the sentence and makes it hard to understand the context. Same thing when he says “I’ll never forget it” in English, when in Japanese it’s actually “That was such a shock”. Aside from this, I found this scene pretty hilarious and of course now everyone wants to see Yamazaki dad’s face 🤣🤣🤣🤣 I’m also really really glad the side characters are getting a bit of attention here, I love their group of friends!!

And here we come to the explanation of Yamazaki’s joke on page 04, which isn’t really clear by the ENG translation: what he says seems directly connected to a Japanese proverb “ 実るほど頭を垂れる稲穂かな “, which I’ve seen translated in English as “The boughs that bear most hang lowest” or “the more noble, the more humble”. Here Yamazaki is trying to say that he will back off from telling one of his lies because a friend is in need of an advice, and so his ever-rising finger will bow down, together with his head (in fact Yamazaki does say -which the ENG didn’t translate- “So I’m going to (bow) my head too”) because he’s a good friend and he can be noble, when needed. ^___^ I found it very cute and interesting too, digging up this proverb I wasn’t familiar with.

From page 3 to page 4, there’s an omission that drags from one page to another, actually changing Tomoyo’s first speech on page 4. When on page 3 Naoko talks about the story that she can’t come up with, she actually says “It’s about the story for the play, I can’t come up with one that would make me say “that’s it!” “, to translate it a bit more closely to the original speech (which might sound less fluent, though it fits perfectly with Naoko’s reaction on page 6). In the ENG version there isn’t the mention of “play”, which comes up only on page 4, by Tomoyo, when actually she says in JP “You mean the (play) for the all-school festival?” (I’m sorry I can never come up with a better translation for that festival, it just appears to be a collective festival for all the classes of the school 😅). So in the ENG translation the festival thing ended up left out completely. Also, still on page 4, Naoko in her speech in JP expresses concern that since the play will be short, people would find hard to understand a completely new story.

Page 7, Fujitaka doesn’t say “twin Alices”, but simply “The two Alices?”. They look alike but they aren’t twins 😅😅😅 “That’s (sounds) amazing” gets turned into a “she must be quite the writer” which okay, the meaning might be the same in the end but I really don’t understand all this need to change the original words. By the way Fujitaka is such a dorky loving dad, hehehe!

And so, without even realizing it, we come to page 9, the page where everything in this chapters changes color and gets....darker. Sakura doesn’t like, for some reason, Fujitaka’s answer to her question “but do we really look that alike?”. Not only Fujitaka confirms, but he also expresses how (and this is a hint for us readers) Akiho and Sakura look more alike now that in the beginning, when Sakura showed him a pic of her on her phone. So this is not something still, it’s a situation in continuous progress, and their similarity gets stronger and stronger with time. Dad says it must be because they spend a lot of time together being good friends, but Sakura’s can’t shake off that pain that is piercing through her chest. What is happening? I’ll tell you what is happening. Her powers. Her foretelling powers. Expect something bad soon. And there might be even more behind that piercing pain, because if I’ve got the main message of the Clear Card story right, Sakura is unconsciously rebelling to what is happening under her nose. I won’t go out on a limb yet about this, but I think we’re in front of a big thematic about the uniqueness of the human being, and how any of us is one-of-a-kind, irreplaceable.

Let me also mention that, personally, I found Akiho and Sakura’s scenes together the creepiest of the entire series. They were supposed to be cute, and yet how can you see THIS

as cute, when you have a history in Tsubasa PTSD and realize that they’re becoming undeniably the same thing? I mean, look at those g*ddamned specular cowlicks, it makes me want to burn them because Sakura had 2 in the beginning and now it’s just one, to resemble Akiho as much as possible! And do we want to mention how they basically do the same movements and mimic for the entire chapter? This is getting out of hand, I’m telling you.

Sakura, Kero and Suppy all get inside their beds (how cute, the little basket!!!), and this is where my picky self comes out again with a translation correction, especially because we’re talking about an important scene. So when Sakura is wondering about what happened earlier, in the ENG version she says “ When dad told me Akiho-chan and I look more alike than ever...that should have made me happy, right? Then why did it hurt right here?”, but in the JP the sentence comes off quite differently. She says “When I was told Akiho-chan now looks more like me, I was happy, and yet...I wonder why my heart started hurting...” . That 嬉しいのに expresses clearly that Sakura partly felt happy to know that Akiho is so similar to her. “That should have made me happy” made me think that in Japanese I would end up finding “嬉しくはずだったのに”, but it wasn’t the case. This isn’t what Sakura meant. So here we have a dangerous misunderstanding: Sakura still loves Akiho and she still feels okay around her, it’s just that she feels this inexplicable, piercing pang at her heart that makes everything so confusing for her. Saying “that should have made me happy, right?” implies that she’s not happy to know that Akiho is similar to her, and somehow puts in the head of the readers the fact that Sakura is growing some kind of repulsion for Akiho, which is absolutely not true, not at this stage.

But it’s not over yet, no, because you can rest assured that when an important scene ensues, higher is the chance to mess up somehow the meaning of the sentence! 👍👍

Pag.13, ENG: “Whose voice was that? And...who were they talking to...?”

JP: “Whose voice was that? And...who is the one...who can’t go back anymore?”

It might apparently be the same, but it’s not, because in the JP version it gets even more specific. While the ENG version seems more “general”, Sakura in the JP version gets right to the core question: WHO can’t go back anymore? WHO IS IT? So with this scene, we have the big comeback of the Mysterious Voice, and honestly? I could do without this! But this is CLAMP’s story, and a chapter without a good dose of creepiness isn’t a whole chapter, so there it goes, gimme all the creepiness, dammit!

When Kodansha USA will explain why do they have to add unnecessary words that don’t exist anywhere, and even make up stuff entirely, I’ll probably be a happier fan. But since it doesn’t look like they’ll stop anytime soon, then here you go: Page 14, ENG: “Alice is wandering out in the garden, when suddenly, she hears a song...And when she goes to investigate, she finds herself in Wonderland...” JP: “Alice goes to Wonderland beckoned by a song she hears coming off somewhere” I mean??? Okay sure, the ENG version might be more interesting and embellished, but why making up that she’s wandering in the garden?? What happens if in the play she's actually, I dunno, in her house during this scene?? Come on.

The girls are stretching out for their cheerleading practice, and...surprise surprise?? What do we see here?? CHEERLEADING BOYS?? That was such a great surprise, honestly...I’ve never really seen boys doing cheerleading stuff, but I mean, everyone can do anything right?? I LOVED this subtle but firm message by CLAMP. Great idea, bravo!!! And we can’t avoid some different translation here as well. Pag. 17, ENG: “What isn’t he good at?” “I don’t know, telling the truth?” JP: “I wonder what he isn’t good at?” “Avoiding to joke around, I guess” “Telling the truth” wasn’t exactly what Chiharu was pointing at, she was aiming more at Yamazaki’s general playful nature. Even though, in the following page, Chiharu does mention Yamazaki’s lies ending up in the lyrics, so I guess they wanted to connect those two statements....

The chapter suddenly catches fire when Sakura drifts thinking about the dreams she has, and how scary they are, with those damned clocks, and probably that damned Cloaked Figure too...and guess who appears standing on the fence of the sports field???

whooooooohooooooo resident Squid is back in the house!!

At long last (unless this is another f*cking dream) she’s seeing them in the real world!! Yeah because, remember, she had yet to see them in the real world, in the manga.... And lo and behold, what does my girl do??

She, hear this, uses 3 f*cking cards at once with a nonchalance that probably not even Clow Reed, takes the flight and f*cking charges at Cloaked Figure!!!! I mean!!

I MEAN!!!

MY GIRL

IS SO

FED UP.

You can see it in her eyes, dammit!! Look at her! She’s got a fire that would burn a thousand houses down, she wants to end the agony right there and then....she wants to yank MCF’s cloak away, for real this time. She knows VERY well that she can’t go on living with this fear in her heart, she gotta know if that dream is true. Yes, that dream.

And maybe this is why she’s so fearless , because if it’s really Syaoran, there gotta be a reason why. She trusts him, and she knows that he wouldn’t hurt her.

This fierce resolution is reflected also in the editorial text at the end of the chapter, “Sakura, stands up against (them) with resolution, in order to open the door to the truth!”. The question is, will CLAMP finally leave us witnessing a g*ddammned plot point without having Kaito rewinding the sh*t out of it?

Mmmhhh good question that will probably get answered in next chapter, out on August 31st!! See you next month!! ;)

#cardcaptor sakura #Card Captor Sakura #clamp #clear card manga #chapter 45 #ccs spoilers #sakura card captor #translation differences

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un-beel-ievable · 4 years

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Spring dates (with the 7 demon brothers!) 💕🌸 - (Part 2)

Author’s note: Please do not repost!! If you like my writing, please leave a like and a comment (and follow me to see similar content in the future :D)!

_____

Asmodeus 💋: Self care day.

• Don't get me wrong, he hasn't given up on all the parties and late nights out. But sometimes he'll look at you and see the dark circles under your eyes and the dull sheen of your once radiant skin, and be reminded that not everyone can be as big of a party animal as he is. Those are the days where he'll clear out his entire schedule just for you –no matter how badly he wants to go to that witch's rager– , and announce a self care day for the both of you.

• First and foremost...he'd prepare a bath for you, tailored to your preferences. What scent do you prefer? Peaches? Japanese cherry blossoms? Or may something more relaxing? He could add some lavender to your bath for you. Or perhaps you'd prefer to use a bathbomb? He'd had one custom made in your favourite colour and scent recently...

• Would play with you hair and try out different hairstyles on you, if you had enough hair for him to do so.

• Insists on doing your nails for you. At the very least, let him trim and shape your nails for you, and perhaps apply a clear coloured coat. But if you're into nail art...you're going to be in for one hell of an afternoon. He's happy to do any design you want, no matter how intricate.

• Ends the day with cuddles in bed...he'd hold you to his chest and whisper sweet nothings into your ear. Telling you how beautiful you look, telling you how much you mean to him, telling you that he loves you.

Beelzebub 🍔: Picnic date.

• He's determined to prove himself to you by showing you that he can show enough self control to prepare you a food related surprise...but he still doesn't trust himself completely to have the willpower to do so. So he ropes Satan and Belphie to help him with meal prepping (He'll need the extra pair of hands...did you really think you could have a date with Beel without copious amounts of food?) and keep an eye on him respectively. The 4th and 7th born are happy to tell you that Beel did not steal more than a few bites while in the kitchen...Beel really was determined to make sure your date went well.

• When the time comes for you to meet Beel for your date, you find Beel at the front door to find him toting a MASSIVE backpack...filled with food, of course. You offer to help him carry some of it, but he doesn't seem at all bothered by the weight of his bag...it seems like to him, its contents weigh no more than a feather.

• The two of you have your picnic in one of the less frequented Devildom parks...to give yourselves a higher degree of privacy. Beel spends a full 20 minutes pulling boxes of food out of his bag, impressing you with 1) how much he made and 2) how much his bag can hold.

• He's taken into consideration your personal tastes, and has prepared a series of dishes that he's relatively sure you'll enjoy. He's also made your favourite food from the human world, of course...and had even tried his hand at preparing some dessert (courtesy of Satan).

• He really went all out to try to please you. He watches your reactions eagerly with every bite you take, hoping that you're enjoying the food that he has put so much love into. He's watching you so intently that for the first time...he forgets to dig into his own food.

• Somehow being with you makes him feel less hungry. Or at the very least...hungry for something else.

Belphegor 🛏: Carnival date.

• When you tell him that Lucifer and Diavolo have given you the go ahead to take him to a human world carnival, he gets so excited. It's the most hyped up you've ever seen the Avatar of Sloth...usually he only gets this happy when naps are involved.

• His grip on your hand tightens when the two of you enter the fairgrounds. At first you put it down to him being overwhelmed, it's been a while since he's been to the human world, and you worry that bringing him to the carnival on his first time back might be too much for him. But when you glance up at the demon by your side, you discover that what you mistook for anxiety is really just...awe. He gazes at everything with childlike wonder, taking in all the sights, smells and sounds with a doe-eyed look.

• He wants to experience EVERYTHING.

• Drags you over to the shooting range...and is surprisingly good at it. (He claims that he isn't using any magic or anything...but you can't be 100% certain.) He wins you every stuffed animal that you so much set your eyes on.

• He's determined to go on every ride but he dozes off on every one that doesn't shake you around violently (which is to say...most of the rides).

• He's so happy that he has you by his side for his first carnival experience. He couldn't imagine having anyone else by his side. (Except maybe Beel. Speaking of...Hey MC, we should totally bring Beel with us the next time we come.)

#obey me #obey me shall we date #obey me game #obey me headcanons #headcanons #obey me asmodeus #obey me beelzebub #obey me belphegor

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hesesols · 4 years

Text

Dreamer’s Disease

Day 10 of Ichiruki month 2020

Summary: It takes her the fourth- or maybe the fifth sleepover to admit that she’s catching feelings from him- Ichigo Kurosaki, her sort-of friends with benefits from Physics.

And for the love of God and Chappy, it is not a revelation that she takes well to.

Rating: MA

FF/ao3

Newton's 3rd Law: For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.

The morning light is blinding.

Rukia wakes up to his mouth pressing incessantly against her skin, dropping fervent kisses and the occasional nip or two as she blinks blearily at her surroundings. Sometime during the night she shifted and they ended up in a mess of tangled limbs- hip pressed against hip, his hand woven into her hair, her legs wrapped around his waist. His unspoken invitation to fill an ache that is equal parts of a want and a need earns him a lazy moan- heavy with sleep but he takes it anyway.

It becomes reciprocal enough when she slants her mouth to his and digs her heels into his lower back.

Languid muscles stretch and she maps his body like a canvas, tracing the outline of every bump and scar that she could lay her hands on. Warm hands grip at her hips, spreading her thighs apart as he settles himself between them. Fingers leave their temporary perch at the back of her knee to coat themselves in her warmth, pumping, curling- leaving her with the need for more as he tests her slickness.

The euphoria that she feels flooding her veins is entirely visceral when he sinks into her.

She cries out- in pain, in pleasure. His teeth are sharper than expected, drawing blood when she yields and bares her neck to him. Tentative licks follow but he's too far gone to be entirely gentle with the gesture when his mouth envelops her tender tit and clamps down on her nipple.

She feels limbless and unbound, pliable in his hands as he takes her into his arms and throws her legs over his shoulders. He moans her name, drawing the syllables out, punctuating each one with a hard thrust of his hips.

She gasps.

The new angle hits her just right and the world is beautiful in the way light streams through barely open blinds- the way it gilds him, hits his jawline perfectly and leaves him bronze and golden and a hundred thousand adjectives she can't quite string together as her mind hazes.

The want in her unfurls- feral and a little unhinged in her desperation. She tugs at his hair, hears him hiss when her nails dig a little too harshly into his skin. He pays her back in kind with the near painful nip on her lower lip- a little of a punishment and a warning but Rukia is unrepentant.

Violet eyes burn into his as she gives him a challenging look by way of the defiant tilt of her chin, daring him to do his worst, welcomes it even.

"Brat," he growls, tightening his grip on her thighs and the curve of his lips is almost sadistic as he withdraws- slow and purposeful enough to make Rukia whimper in response only to slam back harder into her.

Her vision swims, body shuddering as he holds her in place, frantic thrusts pumping in and out of her slickness. The sounds their bodies make with each other, her quick, shaky breathless sighs in contrast to his grunts and curses- deep, groaning voice straining, steeped in his ache—

"Look at me."

His hand cups her jaw, husky voice harshly demanding her obedience and she struggles to keep up. Her eyelids flutter but it's too hard, she thinks. And entirely unfair that he's there coherently stringing along full sentences albeit struggling in some parts while she's lying on her back, her pussy stretched out and filled up, too rawed to find her voice.

"I want to see your eyes when you come."

She starts to protest, wants to tell him that it's too hard but the tug on her hair is sharp and sudden and her eyes widen in surprise, blinking away the tears.

She sees him.

Him with his pretty eyes, the hungry gleam behind them and his devastating smirk, the veins in his neck stretching, the bob of his Adam's apple; the shameless way her body responds to his, the squelch of their naked sex as their bodies come together only to fall apart in each other's arms.

She's a lost cause. Her walls clench and she climaxes with a scream that has him tumbling down the abyss after her.

Coming back down from the high is always the hardest part.

Her body is sore and satiated, mind still a hundred miles away as he peels off the used condom and throws it away.

His heat is delicious and when he leans in to plant lazy kisses on her still flushed skin, she's almost tempted to start something else.

She doesn't of course. Class starts in an hour and everyone knows Kurotsuchi is a sadistic motherfucker who likes to sweep in at least 15 minutes earlier and declare whoever that comes in later than him as a latecomer and bar said 'latecomer' from attending the lecture.

"Do you want your eggs scrambled?"

She nods, gives herself a mental pat on the shoulder when she doesn't whimper or reach out for him when he picks himself up- butt naked still and really he knows what the sight of his ass does to her- pads over to the kitchen.

Her brain is screaming at her to leave. She's getting too attached to him- too used to the idea of sleeping over with breakfast served when they both got into the arrangement knowing full well that things were supposed to be fun and casual- read: no strings attached friends with benefits.

Catching feelings for her fellow classmate who may have won the genetic lottery when it comes to bedroom eyes and to-die-for jawline, is the last thing she needs.

But then the aroma of food fills her senses and her stomach rumbles in response.

She sighs. Did she mention that he cooks too?

Rolling over to her side, Rukia tells herself to consider the facts: that Ichigo's flat is only 10 minutes away from campus (6 really if they run), that he's already cooking her breakfast and it would seem so horribly rude if she couldn't even stay after he went through all that trouble- she bites her lips, and reasons that maybe she can stay a little longer.

Like two responsible adults and upstanding citizens in the making, they end up missing the lecture.

A quickie in the showers somehow turns into another thing and this other thing leads into her fucking his brains out- cow girl style (her way of saying thank you for the meal and multiple orgasms among other things) and then by the time she comes to… well- is there really a point to attending lectures or doing anything for that matter when her knees are so wobbly she can barely walk in a straight line?

When she finally leaves his place, it's already the morning after and Rukia knows she has a problem when she can't even bring herself to care about her attendance record.

That was weeks ago.

Now she's avoiding the hell out of him. Ducks into the girl's toilet whenever she sees even a hint of orange coming her way and makes up excuses or straight up ghosts him when he texts her to come over.

Anyone with eyes could see that she's avoiding him and when even the ever-so discreet Rangiku Matsumoto makes it a point to ask you about it- you know you're in deep shit.

So she makes up some half-assed excuse about catching up on assignments. She is an Engineering major- the work is supposed to be gruelling, and it should hardly be a surprise to anyone if she deigns that she's in need of a sabbatical break from the drama and just focus on good old-fashioned scholarly stuff.

Or at least that's what she keeps telling everyone (herself included), however unconvincing they may find her excuses to be.

Of course, it's still entirely possible that he would seek her out himself. It just isn't a possibility that she entertains much given their limited history together- they just share Physics together, united by their mutual dislike of the teaching professor and early morning lectures, they don't even have the same major for crying out loud! The whole sharing bodily fluids business was nothing more than an unfortunate case of alcohol intoxication, human biology and the age-old curse of being at the wrong place at the wrong time.

The subsequent decision to be friends with benefits was clearly the culmination of a series of bad decisions and just as impressive alcohol poisoning.

Rukia hurls the contents of her breakfast into the toilet bowl. Her throat burns and the taste of bile lingers so badly that mouthwash is needed.

Weakly, she creeps out of her bathroom- more crawling than actually walking at this stage and calls Renji.

Her childhood best friend answers on the third ring and judging by his unusually high-pitched voice, was anxious to the point of hyperventilation.

"Where are you, Rukia? Classes started an hour ago! Our presentation is up next!"

She groans. Her stomach does a little flip at the thought of public-speaking and she thinks she's due another visit to the porcelain god.

"Renji, I'm sick."

"Seriously? How?" he screeched.

"Bad sushi," she offers by way of explanation. They got a little too carried away with Nanao's twenty-third birthday last night and decided to splurge. The menu said it was an all-you-can-eat buffet and the sashimi- her face turns green; oh it was definitely the sashimi, she pigged out on them and among the girls, she seems to have it worst. When she finally regains her ability to keep food down and walk like a normal person again, the first thing she is going to do is give the Japanese restaurant a one-star review on Google.

Renji seems to be talking gibberish on the other end and she hisses at him to calm down.

"Sorry, I'm just freaking out right now. You're supposed to be giving the presentation. And you know that I'm not exactly on speaking terms with Shuuhei right now because of you-know-what."

She sighs, ignoring the way her hair is plastered to her forehead in cold sweat. Boys are stupid and their topics of heated debate infinitely stupider. It's something to do with sports, beyond that Rukia doesn't really understand. Nor does she particularly care.

They're both such drama queens. Never again, she tells herself, is she ever going to partner with either of them for a group project.

"Just read out the discussion part. You'll be fine."

Renji has the charisma of a natural-born leader and the confidence to boot, as long as he doesn't freak out from stage fright- they'll be fine. Rukia proofread the report twice. Their maths is sound and the theoretical component to their project, flawless.

"Ok. But are you sure you're going to be fine? I'll drop by after lecture with some soup."

"Ok. Just leave it outside the door. I might not have the energy to open the door to let you in."

"Alright. Sweet corn soup ok?"

She scoffs.

"Cheapskate. You can do better than that," She's due a bit more by way of compensation. As the hard-carry for the team, Renji owes her that much at least. "I want steaming hot chicken and ginger congee with spring onions and a side serving of pickled cucumber."

"Well how am I gonna get that?"

She shouldn't have thought about food. The churning in her stomach is starting again and she dives for the toilet, barely making it in time.

"Figure it out, dumbass!"

She is woken up by the hard thumps on the door. It takes her a while to gain her bearings and get up from bed.

She almost wishes that Renji would stop knocking so loudly. It is making her head pound and the room is spinning until her hand catches on the door knob and twists it open. The breath of fresh air and sunlight on her skin makes the sickness a little more bearable and for the first time in the hours since she's been puking her guts out, she is finally feeling something other than nausea.

"Yo."

She blinks, desperately trying to rub the sleep away from her eyes because she could have sworn that it's Ichigo standing outside the door, arms laden with groceries and food stuff.

Rukia almost slams the door shut in his face. She's suddenly feeling all sorts of self-conscious about her appearance, about her messy knot of hair, her poor sickly complexion, and the fact that she can barely stand upright without holding onto the door.

Clad in her old high school jersey that doubles as her nightie, it takes her a whole minute of standing at the door, gapping like an idiot at the sight of him to realize that she's braless underneath it and Ichigo is staring at her breasts and oh god, she thinks she's going to be sick.

She lets go of the door knob and it's the mother of all bad ideas when she notices that her head is suddenly much lighter than her feet and she's falling—

Strong arms grip at her waist and she is so glad that he's not wearing any cologne as she clings on to him by his shirt. The smell of clean laundry and body warmth- a hint of peppermint from his aftershave, soothes her enough that her stomach stops churning.

"Woah. You're literally falling for me here, Kuchiki. Have some tact. We're still in the hallway. What will the neighbours say?"

Rukia snorts- retort half-forming at the tip of her tongue that he shouldn't be flattering himself but manages only to shoot a baleful glare at him. The lack of a proper retort is proof enough that she truly isn't feeling herself.

His amusement morphs into a look of concern, eyebrows furrowing as he tightens his hold on her.

"You're really sick, huh?"

A weak nod is all that she can manage. When he presses a cool hand against her forehead, it takes her all the self-restraint that she can muster not to whine or whimper. Clammy skin notwithstanding, her body feels hot and she thinks she's had enough of standing up now. He purses his lips, taking charge of the situation as he ushers her indoors and shuts the door behind them.

"Let's get you settled into bed."

He's still there when she wakes up.

The sun has only just set and the glow of her table lamp casts him in hues of soft yellow. She wants to believe that it's something more than pity in his eyes when he locks gaze with her.

"Hey," she calls out weakly.

There's a wet flannel on her forehead and a blanket thrown over her. His weight settles comfortably next to her on the mattress, keeping her warmer still. With his help, she manages to prop herself to sit upright and grabs the glass of water on her side.

"Right back at you, sleeping beauty. Feeling better?"

She nods. The water is refreshing against her parched throat and she finishes it in seconds.

"T-Thank you."

He grunts in response, tucking her back into bed and when she protests, silences her arguments with a firm and sound reply of 'I'm a doctor's son. I know what I'm doing'. Rukia is too weak and her brain too sluggish to come up with a proper comeback, so she begrudgingly obliges.

"I better get going. There's some congee for you in the thermos flask when you wake up. And there's a tub of pickled cucumber in your fri-"

Her hand grabs at his, a weak tug by all accounts but his body stiffens and he stills. Soft brown eyes are staring back at her and it renders her defences futile. This is her at her most vulnerable, stripped down to something that predates her Kuchiki upbringing, before she even knew to arm herself with a tongue sharp enough to cut and wound.

"Stay?"

She's overstepping and pushing boundaries that he's not comfortable with. Wincing when the words ring a little too desperately in her ears and her pride balks at the blank look on his face, she tries to take them back but he beats her to it.

"Scoot over then."

His voice is gruff but he's drawing the blanket up and sliding under it. His warmth presses comfortably to her back and her eyelids flutter shut, letting out a contented sigh when his arm drapes across her middle.

Belatedly she realizes that at this stage maybe they're more than just casual fuck buddies to each other. For starters, he didn't have to come to her door and he most certainly didn't have to stay when she asked him to. Sex isn't even on the table and she's reeling from all the implications.

Does he want them to be something more? Does she?

Is it something that—

"Just go to sleep. I promise I'll still be here in the morning. We can talk then."

Her mind halts at the sound of his voice whispering so tenderly into her ears. She relents. If he's still here in the morning, curled up next to her maybe they'll have the dreaded grownup conversation then.

It's a promise that she holds him to.

FF/ao3

Review, reblog, like, comment or even ask to send some love my way.

#ichiruki #IRmonth2020 #ichirukimonth2020 #day 10: just friends #fanfic #mine #dreamer's disease #these dorks are bad at feelings ok?#do NOT be fooled by the soft-looking cover this story opens with a sex scene #you have been warned #just friends (with benefits)

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cyb-by-lang · 3 years

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Since Tomoe and Shinta are near WWX’s age-group... does that mean we get to see big sis!Kei despite her not having little gremlin brother Hayate yet!? (*looks at Wen Yuan and Jin Ling excitedly*) because if Wuya-jie doesn’t pull up her sleeves and dive headfirst into the clusterfuck that is the Wen Remnants, then what was the point of WWX getting another badass shijie?

(On another note, I find it fascinating how many strong, independent women WWX attracts/knows. There’s JYL, sweet lady that she is that burned JZX’s cousin at Phoenix Mountain; WQ, who is pretty much self-explainatory; MianMian, who stood against the Jin Sect and left; YZY, while a sour woman, still very bamf; BSSR, an immortal for heaven’s sake; LY, the only mentioned female sect leader and creator of the Assassination Chord Technique. Which, can any of the Nippon residents pull off?)

Long answer below the cut, with some spoilers.

Kei hasn’t been born in this part of the timeline. Right now, Tomoe and Wataru aren’t even officially together yet. They’re sort of writing back and forth, with Tomoe using Shinta as a messenger pigeon because she’s kinda holding off any character development with both hands and her bad attitude. Even her overtures to Wei Wuxian, Wen Qing, and Jiang Yanli are from a place of fairly obvious self-interest. At this point in the story, Tomoe’s early enough in her character arc that she’s not particularly nice, and Kei and Hayate are not even a thought in her head.

From what I can tell, the Chord Assassination technique is...basically the same as if you garrotted someone with a wire, but with spiritual energy used to reinforce the wire/ensure cutting power. Originally used to silence dissidents within the Lan sect. Cheery, really. Anyway, there are a lot of spiritual techniques that are fiendishly difficult (if not impossible) for people without the correct training and/or spiritual structures in their bodies, but Chord Assassination is fairly straightforward. It’s just the exact opposite of what Tomoe does when she attacks someone with her katana.

On the whole, the Japanese characters introduced in Dig Two Graves mostly don’t have access to the standard cultivator skill set. No flying on swords, no talismans, no ability to stave off starvation through inedia, and not much in the way of an increased lifespan/youth. They’re also too old by most cultivators’ standards to actually do the training necessary to forge a golden core. By the same token, cultivators almost all share a power source and general set of skills, but mostly can’t branch into the weird esoteric crap that the shinobi bring to the party. For example, there’s not really a means to give someone the Inuzuka sense of smell, or the Uzumaki blood magic/chain manifestation. On top of everything, most of these abilities are treated as secrets not taught to outsiders by both countries, which means there’s less crossover than there might otherwise be. It’s just that Tomoe and Shinta are in an area where their version of “everyone knows how to do that” doesn’t fly.

Literally.

Wei Wuxian does seem to have Protagonist Syndrome; barring like… Qin Su, basically every character has some sort of reaction directly to him. The ones who don’t also happen to be dead. Then again, a lot of the ones who do are also dead. Mianmian is a glorious exception, but also very much an exception. There’s a bit of a body count in this story, is what I’m saying. (And since he’s never actually met Baoshan Sanren, I’m a little vague on their theoretical relationship and don’t think either character actually cares to pick up that thread.)

To give you an idea of what my and Beta’s opinion of Madam Yu is, one of the conditions of actually having a beta reader on Dig Two Graves was that she needed to be dead. Her and Jiang Fengmian. I agreed immediately, because I didn’t like either of the Jiang parents and still don’t. Especially not Madam Yu.

#dig two graves #the untamed #asks #word of god #nyd-needs-cuddles

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turkleader · 4 years

Text

Final Fantasy VII Remake Demo Spoilers Below

[ooc]

Let’s talk about something that’s been gnawing away at the back of my mind since I first got the chance to play this demo: Stamp.

For those of you who haven’t gotten the chance to play the demo yet, this is a new mascot character that has been introduced with the Remake, a little puppy that wears a round army helmet on his head. We see two posters in the demo’s areas featuring him, and we get a handful of lines of dialogue from Barret comparing Cloud to Stamp.

Now at first I wasn’t certain what Square was getting at with this new addition, but I know Square well enough to know that adding “random” content that wasn’t in the original FFVII isn’t something they’d risk if there wasn’t some reason behind it. My partner and I listened to Barret’s lines, we studied the posters, and an idea began to emerge. Because another thing that’s notably different about the opening portions of the Remake’s demo compared to the original game is... the absolute lack of any mentions of Zack Fair.

So my theory is... what if Stamp is Zack Fair?

Many people who have played Crisis Core remember the line where Angeal compares Zack to a “restless puppy” (during a DMW flashback). It’s become one of the most endearing terms given to Zack’s character. But my reasoning doesn’t stop there. Barret’s comparison of Cloud to Stamp hammers home the relationship between Cloud and this new mascot, to the point where it’s almost overwhelming. And perhaps that’s the entire point, a way to nudge the audience playing the Remake (new and old fans alike) into paying more attention to this than they initially would be inclined to.

Before Entering the Elevator that Leads Down into the Reactor Barret: SOLDIERs may attack on command, but I hear they make good guard dogs too. Bet you've seen a few reactors. So how do we get to the bridge above mako storage? Ain't holding out on me, are you? Stamp scared to bite the hand that fed him? Or is he a loyal little doggie!? [Cloud gets a flash of static and pain, and grabs his head with one hand] Have it your way, mutt. We can do this with you, or we can do this without you. Cloud: [We cannot see Cloud's eyes at any point during these lines of dialogue; is this done on purpose?] Different reactor, different layout. Depends when it was built. Never seen one like this, but I'll manage.

Right Before Planting the Bomb at the Reactor Core Barret: All right. Let's see if little Stamp really can bite the hand that feeds... [He holds out the bomb] Go on. Do the honors. Prove to me you're the man Tifa says you are. That you're one of us. Cloud: Never said I was. I'm just here for the paycheck. Barret: Then do the damn job!

What we can take away from this, at the very least, is that Square wants us to connect Stamp to Cloud, and vice versa. But how do we get from here to Stamp representing Zack?

Part of it, beyond Zack’s “puppy” nickname, and Zack’s experiences with Cloud immediately prior to the events of FFVII (experimentation at Nibelheim, their escape to Midgar, Cloud’s severe mako poisoning, Zack’s death and passing on his “legacy” to Cloud) is the knowledge that many of us (those that have played the game before) have of Cloud’s fractured mental state, his haphazardly pieced together self-identity, mingling the strongest aspects of Zack, the things Cloud admired so much about his friend and closest companion at the end, and the harsher aspects of Cloud himself, still broken and tormented in so many ways by the things done to him and those he cares about (the razing of Nibelheim by his hero, who goes on to murder his mother and horrifically injure his childhood friend, Tifa; the torture he endured for four years at the hands of Hojo; being so close to freedom, only to lose it all at the very end, with Midgar on the horizon...).

It’s fairly common knowledge that the Cloud we meet at the beginning of FFVII isn’t 100% Cloud. And we see hints of that in Cloud’s reaction when Barret yells “Or is he [Cloud] a loyal little doggie!?” at him: the static, the pain, the fact that during Cloud’s reply to Barret we never see Cloud’s eyes once... Then the static and pain returning with the hallucination of the black feather as Cloud plants the bomb at the reactor core, the moment where in the original game Zack speaks to Cloud and says, “Watch out! This isn’t just a reactor!!” Zack, deceased but still able to keep his individual sense of self in the Lifestream, has multiple instances throughout the original game where he speaks to Cloud in this manner, aiding him, nudging him closer and closer to the truth, and helping him in whatever way he can. So it’s very possible that when Barret speaks to Cloud in the Remake’s demo, he’s speaking to Zack, who is watching over Cloud, as well.

But then things get interesting. Specifically because of one poster.

It depicts Stamp on a background filled with fire, carrying another injured puppy on his back. The writing at the bottom reads, “Stamp stands up for his friends!” Now I would argue, by the familiar flaming background, that this is representing Nibelheim. Stamp is Zack, carrying an unconscious and injured puppy, who is Cloud, out of Nibelheim; a depiction of their escape from the burned-down and rebuilt town. The unnamed puppy even has bandages wrapped around the forearm of his front-left leg, much like a certain ex-SOLDIER has bandages that peek just from beneath his bracer on his left arm. The parallels are striking.

“Everyone’s Favorite Series!” -- Final Fantasy? Maybe even referencing Final Fantasy VII specifically, as one of the most popular, if not the most popular, individual game in this long running series?

“The Adventures of Stamp Book 3″ -- Perhaps a hint, that we’ll find out what really happened to Cloud or get more content regarding this scene (the truth behind Nibelheim) in the third installation of this multi-part Remake of Final Fantasy VII? It’s something we won’t know until we get there, but I can’t help but consider it.

This poster alone seems too coincidental to disregard, even if my interpretation won’t end up being completely accurate because of how little we’ve seen of the game so far. But I can’t deny the fact that I’ve made the association between Zack and Stamp, and I’ll be on the lookout for any more clues once the full game is released to see if we can find out more.

We also have this poster, which reads “Mineral Water, Clear Icicle” with Stamp at the bottom-right holding up a bottle of water, and Japanese text that I believe might be Stamp saying, “Oiishi!” or “Delicious!” (If anyone can confirm or deny what Stamp is saying, I’d appreciate it.) Are we supposed to be looking out for something about Zack after we reach Icicle Inn in the coming installations of the Remake? Icicle Inn is where we find out some of the backstory to Aerith’s birth, about what happened between her mother Ifalna and Professor Gast. Are we to expect something else now that specifically concerns Zack? Or is this just a poster to flesh out the world and not something we should be on the lookout for once we get up to that part? Time will tell.

One of the things that does incline me to think that this theory might be on the right track is that recently a video came out on the Official Playstation YouTube channel featuring two of the individuals from Square Enix’s Marketing Team, where they specifically mention to be on the lookout for more instances of Stamp in the Remake. (You can watch the video here, and the approximate time stamp for when they mention the portion I’ve quoted below is at about 10:44-11:34.)

"So interesting thing to call out there. Barret calls Cloud 'Stamp' and we never really explained what that is but he keeps referring to Cloud as a mutt or a dog or a lapdog of Shinra, and that's a new thing that's fleshed out even further. I won't spoil too much, but you can look for Stamp, for more of Stamp as you go through [the game]."

It’s a lot to take in, but it’s the little things that fascinate me. Like my realization only now, after doing all of this digging that all of Cloud’s idle animations (him adjusting his gloves, kicking his boot on the ground to make sure it’s snug, shifting the position of the Buster Sword as it sits on his back) may all be subtle indicators to the fact that Cloud isn’t used to wearing a SOLDIER’s uniform or carrying the weight of the Buster Sword. These things are still foreign to him, things he has to get used to, because he’s never worn these clothes before, never wielded the Buster Sword or worn it for long periods of time.

The tiniest things are there, giving the nod to Zack’s existence, and struggle, and sacrifice for Cloud right before this point in time. Maybe Stamp is just one of the additional ways that Square is making sure the puppy isn’t forgotten.

#Final Fantasy VII Remake #Final Fantasy VII Remake Demo #Cloud Strife #Zack Fair #Stamp (FF7R)#FFVIIR #FFVIIR Demo #.tmunspeech #.ffviirthoughts #.obccloud #.obcstamp #.obczack

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yuzurk · 4 years

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[12.10.20] LIVE NOW : CHOI YENA 1ST SOLO VLIVE

Yuzu is a little nervous as soon as she goes live. She had done this several times but vlive was a whole different platform she had to familiarize herself with first before being able to make it work as naturally as she did with twitch. Making sure her connection was stable and the frame well captured, she continued to hold on for several seconds, double checking everything and watching people pour in. “I feel so naked without my load out-,” she muttered under her breath in English, spotting most of the chat consisting of fans that had found their way here through her announcement on twitter.

She didn’t know how many fans of heartz would actually join this stream and it was a shame she had to talk in Korean for the most part through it even though her fanbase consisted mainly of international fans but she would have to work with the limited options she’s been given.

When she was sure that there was a good amount of people in the audience she leaned back and clapped her hands together after inhaling a deep breath. “Sup everyone, this is Choi Yuzu and yer not watching Choi’s Choice,” the ex-streamer joked, a laugh escaping her lips. “Before we begin- my vlives will be mostly in Korean. With me being an idol in the korean industry now, I have to re-shift my focus. To those who don’t understand Korean- do not worry. Each of these streams will be equipped with English subtitles eventually and I can read and translate your comments if you want to be a part of the life audience. Sadly, this is the most I can do as of now, I apologize,” she announces, her hands still folded together as she bows her head. When she looks up again, there are already comments pouring in from sad emojis to people saying they understand and some confused Koreans asking what the heck was going on and why she was talking in English. So Yuzu went ahead and really kicked off her first vlive als Heartz’ Yena.

“Alright. Here I go- Let me introduce myself properly-,” she begins in korean, her head nodded once. “My name is Choi Yena, I’m the October girl and final member of Heartz 1/3! I used to be a streamer in the gaming and variety field and trained under Samsung for about a year prior to debut. I was born on the 29th September 1999, blood type A, going by the nickname Yuzu. So dun hesitate to call me that! Born in Daegu, been to primary in Japan and middle school in Canada. I came to seoul ‘bout two years ago, straight after High School. I love Games and all sorts of performing. I speak Japanese, Korean and English. It’s a pleasure to meet y’all. Please look after me well,” she introduces herself, tossing the most important facts back at her new audience right after.

“I believe I got... all important things done...,” she murmurs, looking down at her checklist before gazing back towards the chat to see the comments pouring in. People greeting her, calling her cute and funny made the girl smile a little and grin to herself. “Heh. Oh- the other members? I think they went back to the dorm already. I stayed behind to go live... eh?” Right as she says that the door slides open, revealing Luda ( @rkxluda ) who tiptoed her way into the room with a box of food. “Eonni? For me? I thought you’d gone back- ye I’m already live,” she informs the other with a grin in her voice, waving her in and tugging her over. “Before y’leave say hi, real quick!” The two girls wave at the cam together, Yuzu chuckling at how embarrassed Luda seems to be for interrupting her solo vlive. So she lets the elder female scurry away quickly and looks at what she had left the streaming girl. “Oh.... this... I love this- eonni brought me one of my fav foods ‘cause she knew I’d stay back to stream.” Opening the lid carefully Yuzu tilts her head back in bliss after inhaling the beautiful, yummy scent. “Woah... hold on I gotta do this properly-,” she declares, placing her chop sticks down before rolling the sleeves of her jacket up and then putting her cap the other way around to have her face free of any possible disturbance.

Only then she picks her chopsticks back up and claps her hands together. “Temporary mukbang intermission. I’ll eat well~,” the girl sing sungs before digging in carefully, the hot noodles tasting amazing but still hot in her mouth. “Hmm so hot- but so good.” Struggling through the first bite, she takes a moment to swallow the bite before she pokes her chopsticks into her noodles again. “Luckily the eonnis can cook well- I’m a huge mess in the kitchen. The closest to a good cook I am is playing overcooked,” she admits, a smile widening across her lips before she munches down another mouthful. While chewing she goes back to check the comments, one of them making her smile.

FoxyIrishka ( @rkirina ) : when are you buying me a box of premium grade beef

“Soon. I ain’t forget, Irishka. Dunno when I’ll have time now but it’ll happen,” the ex-streamer promises to her gamer buddy, holding up her pinky to seal the promise. Irina isn’t the only of her friends she sees in the chat and it warms her heart. Especially Chaewon ( @chaewonrk ) makes her almost snort out her next mouthful again. Instead she smiles, hamster cheeks on full display as they remain puffed up with food. “I see ya Chaewonnie~ This girl’s an amazing guitarist. We played in a band together- right! I forgot to talk ‘bout 6tunes!” The female sits up with a start, grabbing her own phone and pulling up one of the few original songs they released. “I used t’play in a band as drummer n’ vocalist. We released a few original songs before we had to disband. Chaewonnie was there- n’ my big brother too- Sungmin Oppa ( @rksungmin ) ... he’s- ah there he is! I saw you in the chat earlier, hi oppa~,” she greets, waving at the camera with a chuckle.

“Yeees I’m eatin’ well- see,” she holds up her half finished dinner before looking through her library for a 6tunes song. When she finally found one, she held the cover to the lens, making sure people could see it properly. “If y’wanna give it a listen, go and check it out!” Not certain if she was allowed to play music not made by samsung artists she decided to not play it for now and instead continued on. On the topic of music it’s then she spots her namesake.

( @rkyena ) "hi yena-ya it's yena unnie~ congrats on your debut!! will you sing a song you've enjoyed lately?"

“Ah- Yena eonni, thank you-,” she can’t help but chuckle. “This still is so weird- people ain’t ever gonna find me with how popular Yena eonni is,” she states with a chuckle before munching down another bite. “Luxe sunbaenim is too powerful... eonni is it ‘kay if I tell my fans t’ tag my posts with Yuzu instead- otherwise I ain’t ever find ‘em if I wanna go lookin’,” she asks the idol, an amused smile on her lips while she continues to eat. Receiving an okay in return she pretends to breathe a huge sigh of relief. “You heard her guys- Yuzu it is! T’get back to yer question doe eonni,” she continues, reaching for her phone again. “I’ve been listenin’ to convex new release a lot lately. I really like Jinwook ( @rkjinwook ) sunbaenim’s solo ‘Simple’! It’s a really nice song- I love it a lot.”

Watching the reactions she kind of pursed her lips together when various people asked her to sing the song right now. Inhaling and exhaling a long breath, she couldn’t help but feel like it was a request she should fulfill. “Ah- I can sing a little... I’ll do the chorus-,” she gives in, pulling the lyrics up and deciding to do a simple accoustic version solely because her voice was too soft to keep up with the instrumental and jinwook’s voice in the background. Towards the end of the chorus she gets shy at people calling her voice lovely and beautiful. She spots Xiao among them and immediately feels soft again how she can seemingly transition from one field to another and still keep some of her faithful fans. Hiding her smile behind her phone she can’t help but chuckle shyly. “Ah lleexiao ( @xiaoxrk ) enough y’gonna make me blush,” she admits cheekily, waving the compliments off before hunching her shoulders up as she cringes a little.

She’d have to learn to get used to these kind of compliments.

Leaving people to gush about her a little longer she decides to finish her food and just peeks at the comment section once in a while. It’s during one of those times she sees Kiwi in the chat as well, his request causing her to snort internally. Of course he would. “KingKiwi ( @rkxkikwang ) - please do a kda cover... okay. I’ll get to that. Got just the person in mind I could ask t’help me with that. Keep a look on insta,” the idol teases, wiggling her brows. Next she spots Wendy ( @rkwendy ) as well among those commenting on her voice, praising her for her progress and that she was proud of her debuting at last. “Ahw eonni- thank u so much. Still got long ways t’go compared to u doe,” she tags on immediately. “Wendy eonni is such a great vocalist- Androma is full of so many beautiful n’ talented girls- if you’re not a fan of them- go check ‘em out right after this stream, okay?!” Insisting on this she points her finger to the camera, narrowing in on it before backing away once more to finish her food. “Okay, cool.”

“I’m planning to actually do more vlives if I manage to find the time... one of the series I’d like to get kicking is actually related to gaming and I’ll have an androma girl with me for those,” the ex-streamer continues to tease as she wraps up the empty box and her used chopsticks. “So y’can look out for that too!” Drinking a sip of soda the female comes quiet while she reads more comments. Among her friends still being noisy and her old streaming fans yelling about more gaming content she can see some new names and comments being tossed her way. One of them catches her interest in particular.

zuzuruhanyu: say "maganda ako"

The female furrows her brows, head tilting to the side. “What does that mean? Can I even say that on a live broadcast?” For a second she ponders over it, typing the words into a google translator to see what it would spit out at her.

“I’m beautiful- is that what it means? Won’t that be a little vain of me to say,” she inquires with a chuckle. “I’m tempted to call someone who I know knows Tagalog to confirm Google Translate isn’t failing me-,” she wonders out aloud. In the end she sends him a quick message beforehand, just to warn him and ask if she could call him really quick to ask something. If she was already boosting her connections, she may as well continue to go and do that. With the okay given Yuzu calls up Johnny’s ( @rkjohnny ) number and puts him on speaker. She grins when he picks up and some people seem to actually get a clue who she just called.

“Johnny Oppa? You know Tagalog, right? Does ‘maganda ako’ mean I’m beautiful?” A grin on her lips she listens to him chuckle and confirm the information she dug up via google translate. Replying with a simple hum as he inquires if the chat asked her to say it, she lets the smile widen across her lips as he reassures her that she can say it live without getting into trouble.

“Ahh okay oppa, thanks!” Before she can hang up the call though, Johnny requests of her to do the ‘dalagang pilipina’ pose which leaves the female confused all over. “What’s that?” A pic of Johnny doing it along with an explanation follows not too long after and Yuzu can’t help but laugh. “Can I pleaaaase show this pic to the viewers,” she asks with a chuckle in her voice. When Johnny gives a confirmed chuckle right back she turns her phone to show it to the camera, still chuckling away. “Doesn’t he look like the perfect maiden?”

Cackling at her own wording she turns her phone back to herself. “Are y’watchin’ the vlive right now? I’mma do it,” she announces before going ahead and doing it, wiggling her brows for extra added effect. “this good? am I doin’ this right?” When Johnny chuckles out a confirmation, Yuzu feels herself grinning back proudly. “Alright cool. I’mma hang up then now, ye? Thanks again, Oppa. Bye!”

Looking back at the chat and having people wonder how she knew all these idols, Yuzu had to think twice how she wanted to go about this. She had wanted to avoid being compared to Jieun but not wanting to look like she was flexing and flaunting all her connections right upon reveal she had to explain somehow.

“I know most of them from before they were idols through my cousin, Song Jieun. She used to be a Samsung trainee and her connections are crazy. She told people to look after me when I first came to Seoul ‘cause she was worried ‘bout me. Everyone’s been really kind to me and looked after me well, so I feel very spoiled and grateful.” A smile on her lips she nods her head calmly.

She comes quiet again as she reads more comments, smiling at the reactions and responses she gets even if some of them call her out for riding on her cousin’s connections. To avert the topic she jumps at a comment from whom she knows to be her boyfriend ( @rkohsehun ) lurking on an alias that she admittedly has to sigh at internally. she really did love her stupid noodle.

"seahoney says: congrats on your debut !!! any new / laid back games you'd recommend?"

“hmmm,” she tilts her head, leaning back to think for a second. “with debut preparations and promotions I haven’t had much time to game much. I really do like the fall and halloween update for animal crossing new horizons but genshin impact has also been my go to game when I’m in the car headin’ to schedules. ‘s got everythin’ put together from what you’d love ‘bout open world games. the gacha ‘s a little annoyin’ but that’s gacha games for ya. the breath of the wild feel makes it a whole lotta different to any gacha I played doe. the controls are also easy to manage so that’s a plus as well,” she reviews with a smile on her lips, grinning as some people say they wish they could see her play.

“maybe I’ll see if any of my friends plays it n’ once we all reach high enough levels we can coop and I could stream.” at the mention of friends she also spots yoojung ( @yccjungrk ) in the chat and can’t help but grow soft immediately. “yoojungie~ maybe it’ll be a game for ya too? I haven’t given up on tryin’ to find one we can game together besides ddr,” the gamer laughs. She wishes she could express how much she misses her old roommate and best friend but not wanting it to seem like she was ungrateful, she comes quiet instead.

A gaze at the clock does tell her that it’s rather late already and the staff member supervising her also looks ready to pass out in their chair so Yuzu slides an extra soda over towards them before turning back to her comment section.

“You guys are gems... I wanna stay around longer n’ talk to everyone more but I’ll be back soon. For now I gotta head back to the dorm too and get more sleep. Please look out for us and allow me to meet you at music shows. I would love, love, loooove to see you all and show y’all my appreciation for supportin’ heartz and our first unit 1/3. We got lots of great things planed ahead for the future and are ready to gear up good, so please anticipate the future girls as well,” she concludes, hands folded together as she tilts her head to the lens, gaze soft and adoration in her eyes.

“That’s all from me for today- Yuzu aka Heartz’ Yena over n’ out!” With a salute she squints her eyes, striking a cool pose that breaks with her exhaling a chuckle before the screen does turn black at last.

#take your heartz;#era: love&live;#vlive;#q #(this is the longest solo I've ever written----)

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anxiety-trademark · 3 years

Text

The week in review:

Raw 09/21 NXT 09/23 NXT UK 09/24 Smackdown 09/25 Clash of Champions 09/27 + Main Event 09/24

Raw:

Billie’s not wrong. None of these people are wrong. That title has fallen so fucking far since Becky held it, Jesus.

Interesting to see Billie Kay be somewhat (?) supportive of Peyton. Manager?

I implore women to stop using red eyeliner unless you’re trying to look possessed.

Oh at least Mickie’s gonna have her last match with her snazzy pants on.

God that theme music is so outdated.

If there was one person on the roster that could convince me they wrestled in the Diva’s era, it’d be Mickie James.

Beautiful Octopus, dare I say best in the division. Look at those crossed legs. Just beautiful, Zelina.

Man it was cool watching Zelina reverse the powerbomb attempt into a rollup, but Mickie couldn’t be bothered to get her shoulders down for a 2 count before the reversal. Shame.

Zelina needs an increase to her speed to pull off the style she’s going for, but it’s a fun style.

oof I think Mickie actually caught Zelina’s forehead with that high kick.

Seated Senton off the top rope is garbage and I hate it.

Lmfao Zelina won with a backstabber. She’s literally Sasha-lite. Okay.

Word was Bianca was the star of the pc combine, right? So if you wanna showcase her strength, do it against someone I fucking know lmao. Who was this bro? Of course she’s stronger than a nobody in the pc. Friggin Alexa Bliss can effortlessly give piggy back rides to Sheamus. That’s impressive, because I know how strong and big he is. This could’ve been done better is all I’m saying. Maybe do a sitdown interview with her pc peeps hyping her up, or show footage of her blowing everyone in the combine out the park. Idk.

Ruby stop hyping up Nia and Shayna individually, individually they suck lol lesbireal.

So did Ruby just give Liv her shirt? …You know what, it works, I’m not gonna dig into this.

I feel like all women use the same starting moves against Nia and it’s a little tired ngl. They do this headscissors into a standing crucifix hold, and then slide down to try and roll her up. Then she picks them up and headbutts them. Come on peeps.

Mk just throw Lana through another table, she’s as useless in the ring (kf wise) as Liv is on commentary (non-kf wise)

Let me rewind, how did Nattie get taken out this time? A punch again. COOL. Nattie confirmed worst tag partner in the history of the division.

Lmfao rip Lana. Bye.

Wow we just said fuck entrances huh? Ugh God. Imagine Becky not getting an entrance as a damn champion.

So Peyton forgoes jumping for the German suplex, which could’ve resulted in her landing on Asuka’s head, and her reaction is to laugh. Consummate professional. Becky Lynch’s optic cranial nerve injury (caused by a failed German suplex) called, it can’t seem to find the humor.

Idk what that double underhooked move was by Peyton, but it was nice.

What bothers me about Peyton’s spinning heel kick, is as high as she gets it, she only hits people with her calf. Awkward to see.

That attempted transition into the Asuka Lock was... something.

Highlight: Lana going through the table

---

NXT:

Did Tegan say “why me” to Candice fucking her knee up with a metal pipe? Somebody get this girl some tissues.

Haha watching Tegan writhe in pain is funny. Candice gets points. And I do not like giving Candice points.

Really appreciate Rhea’s theme after hearing so much generic garbage lately. She’s so done with nxt as a performer, she has passed literally all of them by.

Not to be that person, but seeing so many people in the ring together bothers me. If one person was sick, literally all of them are sick now. It’s just kinda yikes.

Did they forego having a crowd? If so, wise. There’s enough ppl in the ring and at ringside.

Rhea fucking yeeted that girl into the barrier lmaooo.

“...Marina Shafir who’s done some great things on Raw Underground recently,” lmao sure.

The absolute half-assed attempt by that girl to pull herself up before Rhea booted her down to the floor was questionable.

So adding all these random peeps from the pc to this battle royal was done solely to have Raquel and Rhea flex for their feud in 4 months, huh.

Kacy does cool shit, wbk lmao. Gets kicked out, lands on her back, rolls into a handstand, rotates, pulls herself up into the ring using her feet on the ropes; gets kicked out, lands on the side of the guardrail, pulls herself up, uses the plexiglass to help balance herself, jumps onto the stairs; gets kicked out, lands on the side of the guardrail, stands on Kayden’s shoulders and gets chauffeured back to the ring. Brilliant. Would be overkill in a Royal Rumble, but it works here.

R&R eliminate each other/themselves together. Fitting. Dakota “help me I’m useless on my own” Kai is shook.

Why is Indi in the top 5? Or top 7? How is this girl so damn prestigious??

Kacy really just slung herself around the ringpost. I’m becoming a fan of her antics/performances in multiwomen matches.

I see Shotzi’s character is, “I come so close yet cannot manage to touch the gold.” I feel for her... cuz I can’t stand Candice.

Boooo

I love how Io carries herself. She’s a shining example of not allowing her heritage to hold her back or make her feel unimportant. She responds in Japanese, and without missing a beat, translates in perfectly spoken and quick English. Never dances, never smiles, never looks like a chump. Serious and answers the damn question. She gets points.

Highlight: Kacy shenanigans

---

NXT UK:

Lol I love KLR so much. Just ducks out of the ring the first time she’s bested.

“KLR is well versed in mental manipulation,” that she is. She’s honestly a top competitor in that sense; equal to the likes of Sasha and Charlotte when it comes to psychology.

Piper’s got power. Ragdolling KLR here.

That’s right, performing with Charlotte Flair at wm is an accolade one can only hope to achieve (I’m annoying I know) no but seriously, KLR vs Becky Lynch? Take my money.

Nice Superkick, nice Tornado ddt.

Dear ref, stop yelling at her and restart the count. Dweeb.

Lmao self inflicted wreckage of her knee.

This ref is a walking headache. We’re now getting into the autumn of overbooked women’s matches. And UK’s first title match back. Yikes.

That senton was awkward and looked painful af for KLR’s neck. If you’re gonna risk that move while selling a leg injury, make sure you have more space to correct your landing.

I almost wish that turnbuckle came undone naturally because KLR is already such a good seller, but I’m gonna assume this is a worked move since it’s been left exposed.

Yeah see there are issues with that spot. Positives: KLR didn’t purposefully undo the turnbuckle, so it’s not on her to give another title match; the spot has potential, as I’m guessing that would be genuinely painful. Negatives: Piper is too big of a woman to hit the lower turnbuckle doing the cannonball, so she ended up hitting the middle... which was padded. Good ending on paper if you don’t do the equations, but poor execution. Not Piper nor KLR’s fault though.

Slow pacing and I hate overbooked garbage, but this obviously isn’t the only match they’re having so *shrug*

Highlight: Clean tornado ddt, and I do love KLR’s selling

---

Smackdown:

Lol Bayley has her chair. She automatically gets a point every time I see it.

Top of the ramp this time? Okay, sure.

Stop cutting to the fancams, production. I don’t care about their reactions.

A fine enough promo to move along both of her angles, but production sucks. Wbk though.

“...one of the most complex personalities,” which personality of Alexa’s are we referring to, though?

Their timing on her pyro was off and now I’m sad. The pops during the breakdown leading into the fountains are fucking amazing and honestly cannot be topped by any of the other women.

When did Alexa stop wearing her gloves to the ring? Probably when she turned face. Shame.

She just called Lacey bitter, southern tea, and you know what? What a fucking drag. Imagine bitter southern tea. As someone who was raised in the south, that is a disgrace to southern tea. Sweet sun tea or pass.

Look at Alexa: selling Lacey’s strength, full of agile speed, and yet here’s Lacey not even bothering to put her shoulders down for her pin attempt. SAD.

A problem I consistently have with SD in particular is how they set up commercial breaks. They always do something dramatic, cut to commercial, come back and shit’s always completely different. How you gonna cut from Alexa leading and hearing the Fiend’s laugh, to return to Lacey in charge ???

Dear Cole, why are you calling her Alexis lol. Like I know that’s her real name but, hello??

oof Alexa’s midsection is beet red.

Lacey has not been putting on a “clinic” stop tossing that term around, Cole. Good bump by Alexa though.

Love how Lacey doesn’t mind landing flat when her moonsault misses. Respect. Her and Charlotte both eat that so perfectly.

LOVE how the monitors of people turned into Fiend’s face. POINTS.

It’s like she’s reverted back to her heel persona. This is literally 2016 Bliss, right? Right??

Roman is a large, strong, intimidating guy... but holy shit the visual of 5′1 Alexa staring daggers into the back of his head is intense af. I almost complained that he cut off her exit, but well done with the continuity.

Highlight: I’m really digging the Alexa/Fiend story

---

Clash of Champions:

Loving the red roots, hate the eyeshadow.

See, if Asuka wants to fuck around in the ring, you won’t hear me complain. I just wish she took her non-wrestling segments more seriously.

The patience Asuka gave Zelina to set up the arm kick was dumb.

“A hard arm bar by Asuka,” he says, even though her legs were completely bent. Easy on the credit given plz.

Zelina telegraphs too much. None of the bumps she takes ever catch me by surprise.

In the spirit of being fair, put your fucking shoulders down and let her attempt a pinfall, Asuka.

Haha Sasha-lite did meteora in the corner.

Nice roll into a kick, half point for Zelina.

No you don’t get to sell frustration or disbelief yet, that’s not buyable.

I don’t know wtf Zelina was going for with that counter before the Asuka Lock, but honestly idc. Could’ve been a kickoff match indeed. State of Becky’s title btw.

Every week it’s the same shit with Asuka. She gets on the mic, speaks Japanese, barely accomplishes anything, then gets interrupted/slapped/attacked... with dancing and smiling inbetween. I really wish she was more like Io.

Nikki isn’t “medically cleared to compete”, and the tag team titles aren’t being defended. My memory is fuzzy but wasn’t there some covid concerns going around back then? Was that just baseless speculation?

Love that Bayley turned this into an opportunity to be a bigger douche than she already was lol.

IS SHE DOING A VICTORY LAP LMAO

I want to hate this from a smarky “give other women a chance” perspective, but Bayley is an ass and this is great for Asuka to build credit as a face, and after being made to look foolish yet again. Lesgo.

Lol sounded like Bayley said, “you think you can cuck me?” I’m sure she didn’t. I’m choosing to believe she did though.

I never know exactly who to blame when Asuka’s Codebreaker looks ugly, but I swear Charlotte is the only one it looks impactful with. Sell job isn’t the problem, but taking that actual move is always dicey af.

Great kick by Asuka. Rekt.

Bayley says nah fuck this rofl. Fair ending; a fun little sprint of meaningless jabs.

“Chairwoman of SD” I like that too, Graves. Points to you.

LMAOOO Bayley set that shit up perfectly kekekek what’s up Sasha.

She be looking fucking incredible, but that neckbrace is a mega bummer.

Character wise, I’m surprised Bayley’s choosing to dole out punishment rather than taking her title and bolting.

Welp maybe she should have, Sasha going to town lmao.

oof peep that red line going down Bayley’s arm. eesh. Welts all over her back.

Highlight: Sasha beating the shit out of Bayley with a kendo stick

---

*BONUS*

Main Event:

You don’t pan the camera over to fucking commentary during Bianca’s entrance. Do better @ production.

Ruby puts her confidence in Liv even though everybody knows Bianca is winning this match lmao.

LOVE Liv’s boots.

like 20 seconds into the match and it’s already 10x better than the Bianca vs Billie Kay one. Don’t even waste a spot on Main Event for Billie Kay. No, I’m not not sorry for saying that.

It’s not that I hold issue with Bianca’s showboating or mannerisms, but it’s all so much more fitting for a heel.

Beautiful stalling suplex, but Liv is rather small.

Beautiful distance on that dropkick to Liv. Liv gets points for throwing herself so far.

We have enough women who rip their shirts off deep into matches, me thinks. Don’t need it from Liv as well.

Momentum could’ve been split better, but that was a decent match.

---

*Clash of Champions would be my highlighted event mostly thanks to Bayley, but if that’s a cop out, I’ll give a slight nod to Smackdown’s handling of Alexa.

#wwe #issa review #feel free to ignore these #cuz who tf cares lesbihonest #today's props goes to:#bayley

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