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gerryrigged · 10 months

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wait wdym dc didn't stick with Red Robin for Tim [and the de-aging thing?] what are they calling him if not RR?

He's been Robin again since 2019 😬 it's a bit more complicated but that's the gist of it.

Okay so Tim became Red Robin in the 2009-2011 series of the same name, back in the post-Crisis timeline. He was supposedly 17 at the time, by official records, and I believe he was still supposed to be 17 when the universe was rebooted with Flashpoint in 2011? (Although this doesn't really make any sense with respect to jamming the huge number of events that happened while he was Robin into like four years, if he was supposed to have become Robin at 13; he should probably at least be 18 if not 19-20).

The Flashpoint reboot took us into the New 52 (much beloathed), where nearly everyone was de-aged to some extent to keep Bruce Wayne and his generation from getting ~too old~, and also Tim Drake was mangled into a completely different character who had never been "Robin"; he'd been "Red Robin" right from the start of his vigilante career. He was de-aged to 16 for the New 52 Teen Titans series.

Teen Titans (2011) #0; as you can see, this version of Red Robin kept a version of the bandoliers and gave Tim a fancy new functional wing cape that he could fly around with.

Next, Rebirth in 2016 was a partial reboot that brought back some aspects of the post-Crisis timeline; tbh I'm not an expert on this period. What I do know is that Tim mainly appears in James Tynion IV's run of Detective Comics that ran from 2016 to 2018. During this period Tim was still called Red Robin, but he'd basically reverted to a Robin costume, with only the silly doubled "RR" symbol identifying him as not ~actually~ Robin winkwink nudgenudge, and as I understand it he was mostly back to functioning as Bruce's partner.

Tynion's run ends in Detective Comics #981 with Tim telling Bruce that he's going off to Ivy University. (He's totally lying, as Tim Drake does; Alfred notices that his tracker is going off in the opposite direction of the university, but Bruce is like "I trust him" and turns the tracker off. Yay, I guess?)

Anyway the important bit is this revealing that Tim is 'going-off-to-college' age. Which could still reasonably be anywhere from 17-19, and DC being DC, they ~refuse to confirm~

Tim as Red Robin on the cover of Detective Comics #934 (2016); as you can see, he's pretty much Robin again lol

Detective Comics #968 (2018); another shot of his "basically Robin" Red Robin costume

In 2019 we got the actual return of Tim as Robin (no "Red") in Brian Michael Bendis's Young Justice run, re-uniting the Core Four from YJ 1998.

Young Justice (2019) #1

As you can see, he no longer has the doubled 'RR', and he confirms that he's Robin - "Well, one of them!" I think he's supposed to be filling in as the Gotham Robin while Damian is running around the world having adventures and presumably getting into trouble, as Robins do? idk.

Tim also chases down his erased post-Crisis past at the beginning of this arc, having Zatanna magically restore (most of) his memories of the previous timeline, and, crucially, his forgotten best friend Kon, kickstarting some plot.

Tim, and all of the Young Justice crew, are notably young-looking for almost the entirety of this run. It varies based on the artist, but uh, yeah for the most part they are really damn baby-faced. This is a trend that continues with Tim and his generation of friends from this point onward, so fans have basically thrown up their hands like "is he 17 forever???? is he Edward Cullen from Twilight???? is he aging backward????"

We Just Don't Know

In any case, Bendis makes DC's next attempt to give Tim his own identity in short order, giving us the hilarious, ill-fated, and rightfully short-lived "Drake" identity.

Young Justice (2019) #10

He's back to being Robin by issue #18, hilariously switching costumes from one page to the next, although some time has apparently passed during the scene transition.

Young Justice (2019) #18; Jinny: "Is Drake back to being Robin?" Kon: "I think Batman and Spoiler made him go back to Robin. Don't bring it up. And say thank you because we didn't have to have the Drake intervention we were planning."

And as of the current date (July 13, 2023), Tim is still in the Robin identity, sharing it with Damian ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ God knows how old he's supposed to be right now. I certainly don't.

Batman (2016) #136; the most recent issue out to date, with Tim suiting up as Robin while filling Bruce in after diving into a bunch of parallel dimensions to bring Bruce home.

As you can see, it's a Mess. The Tim Drake's Vigilante Identity question is of course a hotbed of wank and infighting, as people are torn between (a) wanting him to continue as Robin and (b) wanting him to move on and "grow up" into his own identity again (and, importantly, leave Damian as the sole Robin again, lol).

It feels like most people are for option (b), but then nobody can agree on what his next identity and costume should be. Red Robin again?? Some other bird-based identity that doesn't share a name with a major restaurant chain?? Something else entirely??

God only knows what DC is going to come up with, especially after the Drake fiasco.

And there you have it, Anon! Hope that was helpful.

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imaginaryf1shots · 8 months

Text

My Girls (|||.5)

Words count: 5149

Driver!oc X Max Verstappen

Platonic!Driver!oc X the grid

Summery: Cecilia Hansson daughter of a Swedish billionaire, a race car driver, with a dream of making it big in Formula 1. However she has a few secrets that may hurt her as women are disliked in the sport.

This is just how some of the grid found out about Nathalie.

Series Warnings: cursing, child abandment, absent father, drinking, car accidents, Jos Verstappen, misogyny, Christian horner (tell me if i missed anything)

A/N: Wasn't planning on posting this today, but I've been recieving a lot of love on this series so I thought why not treat you all.

Masterlist

Previous || Next

How they found out

2018 (Lewis) Nathalie is 2

It’s a nice day in Monaco, a lot of people who live in Monaco are now out of the country and it has a few tourists. The summer break is full on, Cecilia decided to enjoy the day and take Nathalie out, the mother daughter duo had a full day out. They went shopping, got Nathalie a new toy and a couple new outfits, Cecilia can’t believe how fast Nattie is getting bigger she’s walking, talking and eating. Then they got ice cream, Cecilia drove around for a bit while Nattie slept, Monaco is so small that Cecilia felt like she drove all of Monaco over 10 times, she stopped at a pier for a bit, Cecilia got out of the car, left the window open and lent on the side of the car looking out at the sea, it’s been so long since she’s partied on a yacht, it’s been a long time since she’s gone to any party. Period.

Does she miss that time in her life, yes, does she regret it, no. She'd do the same things all over again, make the same mistakes, date that asshole if it meant she’d have her daughter with her.

When Nathalie woke up, Cecilia decided it was time to head back. Having some disney music on, the windows down, wind in their hair, they were having so much fun. Glancing at the rearview window to see her beautiful girl smiling and moving around, made Cecilia the happiest woman alive.

Parking the car Cecilia got out of the car, grabbed their shopping bags, before she unbuckled Nathalie, the girl wanted to walk on her own. Closing the car and locking it, Cecilia held out her hand for Nathalie to take it.

“Maman, I don wanna goh home.” The small girl looked up at her mum with puppy dog eyes, pouting in the way she knew that Cecilia was weak for.

“Why Mon Ange? Want to spend more time with maman?” She asked with a smile, ever so patient, the way her mother was with her. Nodding, Cecilia smiled, she unlocked the car, placed everything back in locking the car before she held her hand out for Nattie, holding her mum’s hand, they walked around their neighbourhood. Nathalie was telling Cecilia about the play date she had with her cousin, or more like trying to, the two year old’s vocabulary was still very limited. One of Cecilia’s older brother’s sons is Nathalie’s age, so they often had play dates. Cecilia still lived with her parents, she never got to move out, her brother’s old room now Nathalie’s.

The girl let go of her mum’s hand and started skipping as they walked, a woman with her dog was walking on the other side, the dog suddenly barked, scaring the little girl, who stumbled and fell down, in an instant her eyes filled with tears.

“Maman!” She sobbed, holding her hands up wanting to be carried. Cecilia rushed to her making sure she wasn’t hurt before she scooped her up. The girl hugged her mother and cried.

“It’s okay baby, let’s go home, it’s okay, you’re alright” She hushed, rubbing her hand up and down the toddler’s back in a comforting manner, she turned around to walk back to their house, her eyes looked around before they settled on a familiar pair of eyes. There he stood her colleague, she knows they live in the same neighbourhood, Monaco is small but Lewis Hamilton lived on the same street as her. They’ve met before on the grid and at FIA events.

Lewis knew it was her, the girl’s crying and shouting for her mother, gained his attention. Looking from mother to daughter, he quickly assessed the situation before giving Cecilia a kind smile. He nods in understanding before he walks up the steps for his building. Acting like he saw nothing.

Cecilia wanted to cry but she hoped that the nod and smile from the older driver meant that he’d keep it a secret. From her knowledge of Lewis, from his character he isn’t the type to tell. She doesnt know him that well but she hopes she knows him enough to make that judgement.

Walking back home she hopes that she’s right.

2019 (Seb and Charles)

“I think you did great.” Sebastian said, making Cecilia roll my eyes at him, and sigh. The four time world champion took no offence knowing how frustrated she is, and he’s very close to the female.

“I don’t know about that.” Cecilia muttered and chose not to look at both the drivers with her, they were both out of their champagne covered clothes and into their team kits, the three finished their post race media duties and were in the hotel lobby slowly making their way to their rooms. They were all placed in the same level as each other, for the Canadian Grand Prix, it was accidental but none of them was complaining.

“Has anyone at Mclaren said anything?” Charles asked his friend, they have known each other for years now, cecilia was the only female who was at all the races growing up, not the only female at a race but she was at all of them, any race she could participate in she was in, and any race she could go to watch she went, because of that the girl’s social circle is big. Which wasn’t a good thing when the media found out about her being the new Mclaren driver, calling her all the names under the sun, ‘fans’ asking for her to be removed.

“No, but I'm on a yearly contract, I have to get as many podiums as I can to guarantee a seat next year.” Cecilia said and they got into the left, she leaned into the back of the elevator and crossed her arms.

“Then you got nothing to worry about, you’ve been winning Mclaren points every race, something not a lot of drivers can do in their first year.” Sebastian says, patting her shoulder.

“Says the great Sebastian Vettle.” Cecilia says and pouts, Seb and Charles laugh at her antics, Seb pulls her for a side hug. He’s been looking out for her since she was a reserve driver, she had met him a few times before she got into F1, she is a F2 World Champion after all.

“Come on Cece, you’re doing amazing, Mclaren has been singing praises about you since the start of the season besides we’re only 7 races in AND you won in Austria.” Charles said and the trio got out of the left walking down the hallway towards their rooms.

“Maman!” A young squeaky voice shouted before a small body crashed into cecilia. The woman instinctively picked up the girl, before she froze.

“Nathalie!” Another older voice shouted, the males stared wide eyed as another woman who they know as your mother ran over, a nervous and apologetic look in her eyes.

“It’s okay Maman I got her.” Cecilia told her mother with a small smile, Nathalie wrapped her arms around her mum’s neck and laid her head on her shoulder shyly looking at the men staring at her and her mother.

“Are you sure?” She asked not convinced, Cecilia nodded, her mother leaving back to her room which is next to her daughter’s.

“Is she yours?” Sebastian asked softly, he had no idea cecilia had a daughter, and from the looks of it he knew that Charles also had no idea.

“Yeah, Nathalie, say hi.” The young girl refused and hid her head in her mother’s hair.

“She looks so much like you.” Sebastian said with a smile, he could see the worried look on her face, he instantly knew this is the reason the girl disappeared for a year and a half.

“That’s why you took time off.” Charles concluded, saying what Sebastian was thinking, Nathalie is a spitting image of her mother, a mini her, with blonde hair and bright blue eyes, the eyes are something the Hannsons all had, a family trait. “How old is she?”

“Nattie, why don’t you tell them how old you are?” cecilia tried to prompt her daughter softly, the young girl looked at her mother, seeing them looking at each other, they couldn't spot anything that wasn’t cecilia, Cecilia is looking at a younger version of herself. “Come on, mon ange, you always see them on the telly.”

“I’m three.” The little girl looking at them and holding her four fingers out, Cecilia laughed and pushed one finger down, kissing her cheek.

“Such a big girl.” Sebastian told her with a grin on his face, making Nathalie grin at him, she’s at the age where she doesn’t like to be babied, and loved to act a little older, wanting to be independent. But at the end of the night all she wanted was to snuggle and sleep with her mum. “Did you eat?”

“No, I wanted to eat with maman.”

“Come on, let’s get into my room where we can talk, privately.” Cecilia followed the two males silently into Sebastian’s room, Cecilia sat on the sofa and Nathalia got out of her arms and started wandering around, her curiosity getting over her shyness. As the males sat down everyone made sure they could still see Nat.

“Why didn't you tell me?” Charles asked, he didn’t want to sound like he was angry or betrayed even if he was feeling a little sad his friend didn’t trust him enough to tell him she has a daughter.

“It’s a decision that my family and I took when I decided to keep her, and still continue racing, I was barely 18 when I had her, I got pregnant when I was 17, and it was a hard time, my family gave me the all the choices and told me they’d stand by me no matter what. But when I told them I wanted to race there were some things that we agreed upon.”

“Being the only female isn’t easy, people were already talking, brining a baby into it would’ve just pushed it more.” Sebastian added before Cecilia continued, again he understood her reasoning. He saw tears in her eyes a couple times when she was hounded and booed, she looks strong and unbothered on the outside but when she’s alone she lets her tears out, the one time she had a podium this year was just filled with boos and hate.

“Yes, and I couldn’t just tell anyone, I was hiding her, but if people started to find out then they found out, but I wasn’t going to parade her around. A couple of people at Mclaren know, and I think Lewis knows.” Cecilia ran her hand through her hair pushing it out of her face.

“Lewis knows?” Charles was surprised by that, yes Cecilia and Lewis weren’t enemies, but they weren’t close, not close enough for him to know and for Charles to not know.

“I think he does, you know he lives close to me and my family, he saw us once in Monaco.” Cecilia explained.

“He didn’t say anything?” Seb asked knowing that if Lewis knew he wouldn’t say anything to anyone anyway, you can trust Lewis with your secrets.

“No, never asked either, but I’m 99 percent sure he knows.” Cecilia said and smiled at Nathalie who came over saying she’s hungry. The group took a break and ordered food from room service, in the meantime Cecilia left her daughter with the two men and quickly went to her room getting her daughter’s plastic plate, utensils and cup, with a toy she can play with. By the time she was back Sebastian had Nathalie laughing so hard. Taking out her phone she took a quick video wanting to savour the moment. Nathalie looked up to Seb so much and for some reason seeing him with her daughter made her so happy, her role model with her daughter. Seb already had two children and another on the way, he knew how to handle kids.

Cecilia sat next to Charles leaving Seb to play with her daughter, Charles took Cecilia’s hand in his making her look at him, he was smiling at her, before he pulled her in for a hug. Thinking about how hard it must’ve been for her, having to choose and take all those decisions at only 17.

“Mathew?” He whispered and Cecilia nodded into his shoulder, she tried not to tear up, it’s been over three years, but out of her family she never talked about it with anyone, she doesn’t want to keep her daughter a secret, she wants to take her to races for her to see her mum race in real life and not just on screens.

“But he gave up all his rights, couldn’t even stay for her to be born, his name isn’t on her birth certificate.” Cecilia told him and he squeezed her tighter, if she had another family she would’ve been so lost, he’s thankful for the love her family has for each other.

“She doesn’t need him and neither do you, she has a family that loves her.” Charles told her, pulling back and smiling at his friend.

“And new uncles.” Seb added before tickling Nathalie, who just laughed her heart out.

The food came and as Cecilia ate she helped her daughter and answered all the questions the two had for her, ranging from does Nat travel everywhere with her, to how hard she had to train to be able to get back in shape after the pregnancy.

2019 (Lando, Pierre, Alex)

The end of the first half of the season, summer break. Most drivers went back home to begin their time off. Not all drivers though. Before everyone heads home, some of the drivers decided to spend a few days in Monaco to party and live it up before they returned home. Of course those already living in Monaco were already there.

A yacht was rented for the group to have a semi-private time together and let loose, the drivers made a group chat and agreed on a time and date to meet up and just party, all plus ones and close friends invited. Charles had Lando, Pierre and Alex at his house for a pre-party hangout.

Cecilia made her way to Charles’ house first in her Mclaren, one of the guys would be riding with her on the way there, she planned not to drink, knowing she had to be sober for her plans with Nathalie the day after. Her mum told her to postpone her outing with Nattie to have a night out and drink and live like everyone her age, Cecilia wasn't like everyone her age, she has a daughter she has to think about. To Cecilia, Nathalie always came first.

It didn't take her long to reach Charles’ building, before she made her way up, having already been there a few times before. Ringing the doorbell once, the door swung open and Pierre was standing there with a drink already in his hand. An amused Cecilia raised her eyebrow.

“Cecilia!” Pierre greeted dragging the ‘a’ a little, looks like the drink in his hand wasn’t his first one.

“Piereeeee.” Cecilia exaggerated before she invited herself in, seeing as the Frenchman wasn’t moving. Making it to the living room, Cecilia saw her teammate sitting with a beer in his hand, Alex and Charles talking about something. “Looks like you lot are already having fun.”

“Cece, you’re late.” Lando told the older girl, with a little whine.

“I’m not, I came on time like we agreed.” The girl said looking at her phone.

“You left me with them, you’re my teammate, you're supposed to help me.” Lando fake whined making Cecilia laugh as she sat next to him. “When are we leaving anyway?”

“Daniel said the yacht will move in an hour or so.” Alex told the group.

The group decided to leave in 40 minutes or so, Charles’ girlfriend was on her way anyways. 20 minutes in, Cecilia’s phone rang while she was in the bathroom.

“Cece, your phone’s ringing!” Charles called for his friend, standing outside the bathroom door. “It’s your mum.”

“Answer for me please, I'll be out in a minute.” The female called trying to finish her business faster to get out. She heard Charles talking to her mum in french, but she couldn't make out what he was saying. Everyone in her family spoke French, Swedish and English as main languages, with a few speaking more, but the baseline is those three languages. So it wasn’t weird for her to have Charles talking to her mum in their mother tongue.

Getting out of the bathroom after washing her hands, she found Charles in the kitchen with her phone looking worried and conflicted.

“What is it?” She asked, holding her hand out for her phone. “What did she want?”

“Uh, she wanted to tell you that Nathalie is sick.” He didn't know how to tell her without scaring her, he thought about saying it in other ways, but how do you tell a mother that their child is ill without scaring them, you simply can’t.

“Sick? How sick, I was just there.” Cecilia asked, already moving, Charles followed after her. He cursed himself once he saw the look on her face, she’s imagining the worse.

“She said it wasn't serious, she just threw up and complained about her stomach.” Charles explained, the others looked at the duo, Lando and Alex having no idea what the other two were saying only knowing a few french words but nowhere near the amount they'll need to understand the fast and panicked French, Pierre who got what they were saying had no idea who they were talking about.

“That’s serious, I’m sorry but I have to go.” She got her bag and turned to leave, her hands were shaking and her heart beating in her chest so fast she wondered if anyone could hear it.

“Wait, you’re panicking, you can’t drive like this.” Charles said, driving over the speed limit in streets like Monaco is dangerous even to people like motorsport drivers, driving fast is second nature, but not when you’re panicking.

“What do you expect me to do? She’s my daughter!” Pierre choked on air it seemed looking wide eyed at the blonde woman. “I’m getting there, move out of my way.”

“What’s going on?” Lando asked moving closer, he’s never seen either driver mad at each other, but Cecilia was shaking, tears were gathering in her eyes as she tried to push them away.

“Fuck, fuck.” Cecilia cursed noticing how much she’s shaking, no way she could drive right now, Charles is right. She looked at Lando. “I uh, I have a daughter, who is sick right now, i have to go.”

“I’ll drive you.” Charles offred being the only one who didn’t drink. “Come on.”

He pulled her by her shoulder leaving the rest of the drivers shocked. Charles and Cecilia left, leaving the other three to put the pieces together, Pierre telling them what he heard in French and like those before them they started connecting the dots, the reason she took time off. Lando being her teammate, looking back now there were hints, but without context he wouldn't have got it.

A bracelet with Maman, flashes of pictures when she was showing him something on her phone, lots of I love you darling and what not, but he thought maybe she was dating someone, he’s seen her mother in their hotels but she doesn't always come to the track. A woman who can guess now is a nanny who’d come up to talk to Cecilia and leave. So many hints, but damn Cecilia hid it well.

“Who do you think the dad is?” Alex asked after they came to a few theories and conclusions, waiting for Charles to come back.

“Must be that asshole Mathew, they dated when we were racing years ago and continued until I'm guessing she got pregnant.” Pierre said, none of Cecilia’s friends ever liked Mathew.

“Who?” Lando asked, he had no idea who they were talking about, him and Cecilia didn’t really get close before F1, she was always in the groups above him.

“An asshole Cece dated for a while, filthy rich, a couple of years older, was taking over daddy’s job and wouldn't shut up about it.” Pierre informed Lando. “Cecilia’s also very rich but you don’t see her walking around throwing it in everyone’s face, don’t know who he was showing off to.”

“He used to stay in Monaco a lot, but from his Instagram I haven't seen him here in years, his Instagram was once filled with pictures of him and Cecilia but one day everything was gone, I thought that meant they broke up.” Alex said, frowning.

“Me too, she too deleted all their pictures, before she went MIA.”

They talked for a bit more before Charles came back, and filled in the gaps given permission by Cecilia and made them swear not to tell anyone, giving Pierre a look. They swore to keep it a secret, if this came out it would hurt their friend, the backlash could be carrier altering.

They got ready to leave Charles’ girlfriends texted that she’ll meet them there. One the way they got a call from Cecilia telling them(charles) that Cecilia is okay, she just ate something that didn't agree with her stomach. Lando shouted that he wanted to meet his niece before he went back to London, Cecilia laughed and told him to come over whenever. Pierre and Alex also invited themselves, making Cecilia laugh again, shaking her head at her friends who couldn't see her.

With a final ‘have fun’, she hung up.

Late 2019 (Max)

By this time in 2019 Daniel and Carlos also knew about Nathalie, they haven’t met her, seen pictures but they knew about her. With it being Monaco Grand Prix weekend, and under the reassurance of her family and friends mixed with her daughter’s pouty face and big eyes, Cecilia decided to let her daughter come to the race. She’d come in with her mum from the back entrance, with the help of Mclaren they were able to get in undetected. They were there since early morning, Nattie met Daniel and Carlos, they were mesmerised by the little girl, Charles once again was saying to anyone and everyone(that knows about Nattie) that he’s her favourite and he had a reason to say that, proud uncle.

Cecilia’s mum stayed with the girl in the drivers room whenever they saw any cameras coming around, Nathalie had a little nap before they went to watch the race from the hospitality.

It was race day, everyone was buzzing, Cecilia was starting fourth, not bad. She didn’t just want to win this race because it’s her home race but because her daughter was watching, and she looked so cute with the headphones she had on that muffled the sounds a little, the place is noisy as hell.

Starting the race, Cecilia had Max, Lewis and Charles ahead of her with Seb just behind her. The Monaco race is always a fan favourite, Cecilia knows this track like she knew the back of her hand, she ran it and drove through it, she can find her way around with her eyes blindfolded. This may be the reason she was able to get to second place, taking over Charles, before she took over Lewis. Cecilia was just thinking about how proud her daughter would be watching and knowing that her mum was the only woman in F1 and that she was beating all those men. When the race came to an end, she was back in third place, lewis having overtaken her in the final two laps but she had the fastest lap so that’s another point for her team.

Cecilia was grinning when she took off her helmet, happiness cursing through her, she wished she could win, but having a podium is something that she loved the feeling of, she’s becoming better and better with each race, and it’s evident in her scores. Mclaren are over the moon with her. She celebrated with her team, before she got weighted and interviewed.

After the celebrations and more interviews, the venue started emptying. Cecilia saw her daughter for a few minutes before she was rushed for a quick meeting. By the time she was done, most of the place was empty; a few teams were still present, also doing meetings or last checkups and whatnot.

“Maman, where's Nattie?” Cecilia asked her mother, seeing her sitting alone. The small room made her feel a little claustrophobic after a long time.

“She is napping in your room.” Going to her room to take her daughter home, she opened the door and saw the small blanket Nattie couldn't sleep without but she wasn’t there, there wasn't any place for the girl to hide in, but Cecilia still looked everywhere, with each passing minute she started to panic.

“Maman! She isn’t here.” Cecilia called to her mother who was talking with Lando now, both looked as panicked as her when they heard her words. “Start looking around, if you find her, call me.”

“I’ll tell the others!” Lando called as both him and Cecilia left the Mclaren garage, they went opposite ways, while Cecilia's mum started looking in all the small spots Nathalie could’ve gone to in the garage. Cecilia called for Nattie as she walked/ran, her eyes taking in everything as much as she could. Managing to take out her phone and call Charles while still looking around.

“Hey are you-”

“Is Nattie with you?” She cut him off, he could hear the urgency in her voice, frowning.

“No, I’m with Seb, we'll look for her.”

“Okay my mum and Lando are also looking, call me.”

“Okay.”

Coming up on RedBull’s garage, it looked empty, but Cecilia wasn’t leaving a place where she didn’t look. She crouched as she tried to see if the tiny human she gave birth to was anywhere. “Damn it Nattie, where are you?”

Standing up she was about to leave when she heard talking, walking in more, she was going to walk where none RedBull personnel were allowed, and at this moment she didn't care. And it’s a good thing she did, rounding the corner where her daughter was, in her orange Mclaren shirt and a RedBull(?) hat, in the arms of today’s winner, Max Verstappen himself.

Her daughter is okay, and looked like she was having the time of her life talking to Max. quickly texting her mum and Lando that she found her, before she made her presence known.

“Nathalie! Where were you?” Walking up to the due, once she was in range her girl leaned over and Cecilia easily took her form Max. “You scared me so much.”

“I’m sorry Maman.” She whispered not looking sorry at all, looking up at Max she found herself tearing up, she only just held herself together to find her girl, now letting a little bit of the panic she was feeling get to her, she couldn't help it.

“It’s okay, I found her walking by the garage and she said she wanted a hat like mine.” Max explained(maxplained) trying to calm the almost crying mother, he found out from Nathalie that her mum is Cecilia and he could see the resemblance loud and clear. “I came back here to give her one, before taking her back to Mclaren.”

“Thank you.” Cecilia said letting a few tears slip out of her eyes, Nattie seeing the tears on her mother’s face also started crying, Max instinctively just pulled the mother daughter due in his arms. He doesn't know why he did it, but it felt like the right thing to do, he felt one of Cecilia’s hands grab his RedBull shirt tightly and her hand was shaking.

“She was telling me how her mum was on the podium, how she was the only girl racing.” Max said to Cecilia, trying to lift up her mood a little, pulling back a little, Cecilia gave her daughter a teary smile. Max whipped Nattie tears.

“I’m okay baby, don’t cry.” Cecilia told her girl softly.

“Mum was just worried about you.” Max said in a tone Cecilia hadn’t heard out of the man before. Yes they’ve grown closer as drivers/friends, their relationship is different from the one they’ve had before, but Max is no Charles or Pierre, they aren’t as close as she is with them.

“Yes, mon ange, you have to be careful, you have to tell me or grand-mère where you’re going.” Cecilia said softly, pushing Nattie’s hair behind her ear, the hat on her head far too big for her.

“I’m sorry momie.”

“It’s okay baby.” Cecilia said and placed Nathalie on the floor, holding her hand. She turned to look at Max, she didn’t ask him because he might’ve not agreed, but she hugged him with one arm around the neck, yes he gave her a hug but she was crying. “Thank you so much Max, I was going out of my mind.”

Max placed one of his hands around her waist and the other one landed on top of Nathalie’s head in a comforting manner.

“It’s okay, I was just about to go find you.” He told her they were talking so low, Nathalie couldn't pick up on what they were saying.

“I owe you one.” Cecilia said and pulled back the hand he had around her took a few seconds before it dropped as well.

“Well, I’ll hold you onto that.” He cheekily replied, making Cecilia smile and nod her head.

“Whatever you want.”

“I call first dibs on babysitting duties, I mean not a lot of racers in Monaco.” He shrugged. “And Nathalie said she wanted to see who won today, so she may have to see me a lot.”

“We’ll see about that, I might just start winning.” Cecilia joked with the other driver, they held eye contact for a moment, shades of blue meeting in a stare they couldn't decipher yet, Cecilia’s phone rang breaking them from their moment, she fished it out of her pocket answering once she saw Charles’ name. Telling him she was at RedBull and that she’s coming, ending the call quickly. She gave Max another grateful look. “I’ll owe you another one, if you could just keep Nattie a secret.”

“You don’t have to owe me for that one, I wasn't planning on it.” telling thank you again Nat and Cecilia left for Mclaren where Charles, Seb, Lando, Danny and her mum were waiting, Pierre had to leave once he knew that they found Nattie.

-> Next

Taglist:

@luciaexcorvus . @vellicora . @tpwkstiles . @belennasif . @eugene-emt-roe . @fanboyluvr

#f1 x driver!reader #f1 x reader #max verstappen one shot #max verstappen #f1 fanfic #f1dr #f1 imagine #my girls #max verstappen imagine #f1 scenario #f1 x oc #max verstappen x oc

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naomis-daydream · 1 year

Text

soft launch // letitia wright

summary: model!reader. after accidental run-ins at industry events and following each other on instagram, you & letitia wright have grown a beautiful friendship of sorts over the years. you’ve been suspected to be more than such after numerous photos and videos of the two of you on vacations, casual outings, and parties together. it’s been nearly nine months since you’d made things official in private, now it’s time for a semi-public reveal.

warnings: none

a/n: the lovely writers/mutuals who inspired me to finally post my first work[ @pinkwright @thevenusianleo @zayswriting @vixentheplanet @shurismainbxtch @mlmilani ]

✧

liked by adutakech, zendaya, and others

y/nofficiall happy love day from me & mine to you and yours <3

view all 3,568 comments

anokyai my loves

y/nofficial 🫶🏽🫶🏽

bella hadid ❤️❤️

liked by y/nofficial

user992939202 IS THAT MOOKIE?!!?

user6829284 she’s cheating on us again😔

letitiawright 🙈🙈🎞️

liked by y/nofficial

view 32 replies

random_user don’t hide now

username1111 tish could have anyone and she chose that…

2 likes

user_jqowjsowk no fr

y/nstan4L she’s literally supermodel & y’all are who exactly? oh ok

user889412790 we ride at DAWN 🤺

98 likes

badgalriri 😍😍

y/nofficial 🥹

username6829018 my heart is gonna explode brb

nameuser that could be literally anyone guys. plus tish’s hair isn’t that grown out nor texture, c’mon now.

load more comments

you smile as you scroll through the comments, being careful not to look too much. you know how harsh some people can be, courtesy of your job and your relationship with a particular Panther.

you two had become acquainted at the 2018 Met Gala. with you being a huge fan of Black Panther and her character, you immediately went over to praise her for her role and being an inspiration for so many. the conversation was brief, but fulfilling, and later that night, you followed her in instagram, her reciprocating within the hour.

it would be nearly a year before you reconnected—outside DMs and short texts—at a shoot for Harper’s Bazaar UK. conversation came easy between the two of you, flowing so naturally. though you were doing separate shoots, in between was filled with laughter that lit up the both of you. you wrapped for the day and while normally you hole up in your hotel after work, she insisted on taking you to her favorite places in London. who were you to deny her?

since then, you’d been spotted with her countless times, and while you had gotten used to the paparazzi, it was Letitia’s ever growing fan base that gave you the hardest time. her fans had been an adorning, supportive people following the release of Black Panther, but the sequel brought an entirely new wave that overwhelmed you and your girlfriend. in the first few months of your relationship, there’d be hardly any whispers of you guys. though it seemed people were putting two and two together which led to rude comments and even death threats.

that was exactly the reason why you’d been weary about opening up about your relationship with Tish. you loved her and wanted to do so out loud, but in this industry sometimes it’s best to keep it to yourself. you enjoyed sharing various aspects of your life on social media while she was more reserved. in the beginning you both agreed to a private relationship, only teasing fans with suggestive photos and comments under posts. you both talked about being public, easing into it, which is why today was exciting yet nerve wracking. you couldn’t ignore the tight feeling in your chest the previous night and this morning, but the flowers at your door this morning with a loving note filled you with enough content to hit “Post”.

you scrolled through instagram, your feed filled with Valentine’s Day appreciation posts. you stopped when you came along a special one.

liked by marsaimartin, simoneashley, and others

letitiawright: I got a valentine 💌 Make sure to show love to those you care about everyday, but make it extra special today🙏🏽

view 237 comments

evssofficial SOFT LAUNCH ALERT 🚨

23 likes

lupitanyongo ❤️

134 likes

kehlani FINALLY DAMN

525 likes

letitiawrightsource 👀

y/nofficial nice ass gifts you got there

letitiawright very nice indeed

in the past, the comments would’ve been flooded with vast replies; supportive, hilarious, or offensive, but thankfully, you taught her how to limit interaction on social media—it’s nothing but loving words and well wishes.

you set your phone down, leaning to your nightstand to re-read the notecard on the flowers you received this morning.

“God blessed me with a woman like you, and I’m eternally grateful. Happy Valentine’s Day my love. I wish I could be there to appreciate you properly, but all in due time. p.s there’s more to come ;)

- Yours, Letitia.”

#naomis-daydreams #letitia wright #letitia wright x reader #dr. letitia wright #black panther #black panther wakanda forever #letitia x black!reader #letitia x black!fem!reader

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allekha · 11 months

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Fun With Jump Arm Variations

When jumping, different skaters put their arms in different places, but generally they are pressed flat against the torso, especially on higher-revolution jumps. This compressed shape increases the skater’s rotational speed, which is important for attempting triples and quads.

But as anyone who has watched much skating has seen, you can jump with your arms in different positions, too. There are two main arm variations you will see in modern skating programs:

One arm above the head - these are nicknamed ‘tanos’ after Brian Boitano, who did not invent but did popularize the variation. Ones where the arm is bent a lot may be derisively nicknamed ‘helicopter tanos’, as some fans don’t like how they look. (Brian Boitano 1988 Olympics SP, Brian Orser 1988 Olympics SP, Petra Burka 1965 FS, Wendy Burge 1976 Olympics FS, Ekaterina Kurakova 2022 Euros FS)

Two arms above the head - these are nicknamed ‘rippons’ after Adam Rippon, who also did not invent them but popularized them when he started doing it on his lutz. (He did tanos on it for a while, but then started using both arms when he trained with Brian Orser, because he felt bad doing ‘tanos’ in front of Orser, who famously took silver behind Boitano at the Olympics.) (Adam Rippon 2016 GP France FS, Midori Ito 1988 Olympics SP, Ting Cui 2018 JGP Ostrava SP, Sihyeong Lee 2021 Nebelhorn FS)

However, there are also other arm variations. These are all rare nowadays, although if you watch older programs, you are more likely to spot a variation that’s not a tano or rippon. Ones I’ve seen include:

Hands on hips - these used to be much more popular back in the day but have fallen out of fashion. I would guess it’s because they slow down rotational speed too much, as every one I have seen is a double except this one by Michael Chack, but I don’t know for sure. (Jill Trenary 1990 Worlds FS, Michael Chack 1992 USNats FS, Rory Flack 1988 USNats SP, Tonia Kwiatkowski 1988 USNats SP, Midori Ito 1987 Worlds SP, Anna Kondrashova 1988 Olympics SP, Yuzuru Hanyu 2010 JPNats FS)

Helicopter arms - this one has been used as a warm-up by Yuzuru Hanyu, and I’ve spotted it in competitions a couple of times with single and double jumps (Rory Flack 1994 US Open Artistic Program, Yuzuru Hanyu 2012 Finlandia Trophy SP warmup)

Arms behind back - I’ve only seen this one performed by Jason Brown in his Riverdance program, where depending on the event he placed either one or both arms behind his back during the second jump of this combo (2013 SA FS, 2014 Nats FS)

Arm switching midair - I’ve only seen this one in this lovely axel variation by John Curry (1976 Olympic SP)

Hands by the head - I believe I may have seen this used by at least one other skater, but the only example I have at hand is this one by Nancy Kerrigan (1990 Goodwill Games SP)

Beginning in 2009, ‘varied position in the air’ became a positive GOE bullet point for jumps. This was because they are supposed to add to the difficulty of a jump, although I’ve seen arguments back and forth from skaters about how true that is for some arm positions (and even if which arm is raised makes a difference for tanos). Years later, they exploded in popularity, particularly in the women’s competition. The trend had its beginning around 2014 or so; the previous season, junior World medalists Evgenia Medvedeva and Serafima Sakhanovich were given programs constructed to include raised arms on a couple of jumps, which wasn’t too unusual, but in 2014, their programs contained many more of them. Medvedeva would go on to dominate the senior circuit for several years and notably used raised arms on most of her jumps during that time, which started the trend in earnest among other skaters.

This GOE bullet point was removed for the 2018-2019 season. But if arm variations no longer get that bit of GOE, why do we still see them so often? There are probably a few reasons:

Skaters who trained them for GOE a few years ago got used to doing them that way and don’t want to mess with their muscle memory

They can add to a program aesthetically

Skaters and their teams may still hope to impress the judges by using them

Skaters have said that rippons help straighten their jump axis

I’ve also seen speculation that rippons can be used to help muscle jumps using the upper body in some cases

I would also like to shout out arm variations on jump exits that aren’t the standard check-out position. These aren’t as common as mid-air variations nowadays and rarely get talked about as their own thing - probably in part because they were never a GOE bullet - but they can add difficulty to the exit as well as give a nice choreographic touch to a program. You can see a few in the above gifs, but here’s a few more:

(Petra Burka 1965 Worlds FS, Yuzuru Hanyu 2021 “White Nights” EX, Anett Pötzsch 1976 Olympics FS, Hana Mašková 1968 Worlds FS, Claudia Kristofics-Binder 1976 Olympics FS, Brian Boitano 1988 Olympics SP, Vladimir Kovalyov 1976 Olympics SP)

#figure skating #fskateedit #fs history #Yuzuru Hanyu #Midori Ito #Brian Orser #Brian Boitano #Jason Brown #John Curry #Adam Rippon #Rory Flack #Ekaterina Kurakova #gifs #I went kind of crazy on the gifs here #long post

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missholoska · 1 year

Text

some new Underswap MH designs! properly showcasing Maddy the Dummy, and introducing Swap MH Ruins Dummy's Mad Mew Mew equivalent form ✨

info about them and design ramblings under the cut!

Dummy:

appears as the tutorial dummy in the Ruins - Asgore encourages Chara to talk to them, but no matter what action the human takes, the Dummy will take offence and leave the room after snapping at them. Asgore then takes the opportunity to tell Chara that even if a monster is rude, showing mercy is still important.

Bored Dummy:

appears as a boss in Waterfall - Mad Dummy told them to get revenge for how they were treated by Chara, but Bored Dummy doesn't really care about fighting and only does so to make their cousin happy.

at the end of their battle with Chara, Happstablook notices the commotion and makes a dramatic entrance with a glitter bomb, inadvertently spooking his cousin out of their body.

Mad Dummy:

offscreen, Alphys asks if they'll model a Mew Mew Kissy Cutie cosplay she'd been working on, as she can't find her usual training dummy to ask. after agreeing and trying on the outfit, Mad Dummy has a Mad Mew Mew-esque identity revelation, and continues wearing the cosplay for the rest of the "game".

if Chara speaks to her in the overworld, she mentions she's considering renaming herself Maddy.

???:

briefly reappears as Bored Dummy again with Maddy after Alphys' hangout event, but soon afterward decides to leave that body behind for good.

after the barrier is broken, Chara can find the uninhabited dummy body in Waterfall, and a barely-visible ghost floating near the snails at Blook Acres.

Maddy the Dummy:

loving life as an adorable mannequin model and one of Napstabot's singers. she frequently changes her look with different wigs and clothes, and has a preference for pinks and pastels, frills, and occasional edgier styles.

still very much the loud, energetic and quick-to-anger type, easily switching from cutesy charm to yelling at someone annoying, and retains her habit of repeating words/phrases three times.

doesn't become Mew Mew like her UT counterpart, but she does have a big soft spot for the Mew Mew Kissy Cutie series, though she prefers Mew Mew 2. she and Alphys have had multiple Undernet arguments about this.

has both friends and knives now!!

Pom Pom:

still lacking a body on the surface, Chara offered to knit them a custom body of their own. they liked the idea of being an animal-like monster, as well as an apple theme based on their favourite saying (that being their UT counterpart's check description). once the body was complete, they soon became corporeal and took on the new name Pom Pom.

they're shy, quiet, easily startled, and especially prone to boredom. they have little tolerance for aimless shenanigans, and will either leave a situation they dislike or just ragdoll on the floor and sleep. they stand like they're about to fall over at all times.

their new body kept some familiar features from their previous, including a cotton heart and button eyes. the heart functions similarly to Napstabot's heart-shaped core.

ghost ages are pretty vague, but they're an adult and the youngest of the ghost cousins.

I've talked about Maddy a couple times in the past, but to reiterate: like Happstablook I want to handle her character with as much respect towards her UT counterpart's story as I can, given that her role swap predates Mad Mew Mew's reveal. had I not designed and gotten attached to my Napstabot in early 2018, just months before UT's Switch port, maybe I would've swapped Mettaton and Mew Mew instead, but it is what it is. think of her as Mew Mew and Glad Dummy combined 💖

as for Pom Pom, with how little canon info there is on Ruins Dummy I just went all-in on what few details I had to work with. admittedly the apple theme is a total stretch from the "apple of my eye" part of their check description, but I liked it too much to not go with it! and them being an animal-like humanoid is to match Mew Mew being a catgirl, so I thought a deer suited their personality.

also, the reason their body was knitted by Chara specifically is I love the headcanon that ghosts can hear the narrator (based on Napstablook responding to their own check description), so after applying it to Swap MH I thought it'd be cute if Chara and Frisk have a close bond with the ghost family post-pacifist :'>

anyway I'm aware that they're pretty much just an OC-ified version of a canon character at this point, but like. people have been doing that with the humans, Gaster, Dess and AU Sanses for years. I am allowed one (1) Basically A Fan Character version of an existing character, as a treat

#undertale #safeutdr #underswap mh #ruins dummy #mad mew mew #mad dummy #ghost cousins #swap mh background characters #undertale art #holoskart

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consanguinitatum · 7 months

Text

DT and His Appendicitis Scar: So When Did That Happen, Anyway?

I think I've mentioned in previous posts that I come across quite a few personal tidbits about a young DT while doing research for my sloooowly developing podcast. I think - well, I certainly hope! - I've also mentioned those sorts of tidbits are not going to be in the podcast? Well, if I haven't mentioned it before, I'm mentioning it now.

I see no reason to include these sorts of things because the podcast won't be about David's personal life (either then or now) but about his professional life. But while I tend to consider most of the theatre work he did between the time he entered the RSAMD Junior School at age 11 (and then got his Equity card and went on to drama school) and prior to his move to London in 1994 part of his professional life, technically they're really not -- because up until he took his first job in the 7:84 in 1991 for The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui, he hadn't been earning a wage. And he's said in interviews Arturo was his first professional gig.

But I'm choosing to split hairs here. For the purposes of my podcast, I plan to treat his drama school years as if they were part of his professional career. I do this because I want to give them the same consideration and respect as the rest of his career, and feature them as the seminal experiences they were. They helped build the foundation of his professional life. Besides, he himself has said that attending drama school was essential for him to become the actor he wanted to be.

Because I consider them professional experiences (and because I'm acutely aware of his desire for privacy) the podcast will stay as much in the professional arena as I can possibly make it. He's talked quite a bit about this period of his life before, and I don't feel uncomfortable highlighting anything he's mentioned which happens to coincide with information I've discovered. Anything of a more personal nature which gets included in the podcast will have been measured against all of these factors before it gets added in. So all of that said, we come to an interesting bit of information about something David has definitely talked about and shared about it before - but which has no place in my podcast. So let's talk about it!

The lovely mizgnomer did a great little post a few years back which featured a photo set of David chatting about the near-death experience with appendicitis he had when he was a child (see below):

David's mentioned his appendix scar a few other times as well, and each time he speaks about it, the range of his age at the time of the attack varies by a few years - usually from age 8 to about 10. That's not surprising at all, of course, because for most of us, trying to narrow down some of the events in our childhood to specific time ranges can get a bit fuzzy. But I'm pretty sure I know when it happened.

Back in 1980, a society/organizational newspaper column entitled "Church News" appeared regularly in the Paisley Daily Express. This column often featured prominent figures in churches all over the community and were often framed as "One Week in the Working Life Of" these certain figures to debunk the myth that ministers only work on Sundays. One of these columns, published on 1 May 1980, featured a certain Rev. Sandy McDonald, the minister of St. Marks Oldhall.

That week, Sandy was busy recording a series of short services at his church which would later go out on STV. These were likely part of one of two religious television broadcasts he was a part of at the time: Late Call or That's The Spirit (both programs David has mentioned over the years).

The article goes on to document Sandy's busy week, speaking about his duties chairing festivals of praise and being principal speaker at church rallies and charity events. In between these duties, the article mentions, Sandy has to attend to all his pastoral duties, including meetings with his own church groups, and - and here is the important part - "visits to hospital patients (including his own son)."

The time at which this article was written implies one of Sandy's children was in the hospital in late April to early May of 1980. It's probably a safe bet to assume it was David: while it could have been either his elder brother or his elder sister, this does happen to fall pretty splendidly into the age range of "9 or 10" for his appendicitis scare which David has given in the past. David would have just turned 9 years old in mid-April of that year.

So there you have it. David was 9 years old when he suffered the bout of appendicitis - which burst, and brought him near death.

Thank goodness he made it!

#davidtennant #AppendicitisScare #ThingsAboutDavidYouProbablyDontKnow #RandomDTFacts

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hamsteriffic · 2 months

Text

Miraculous Fandom Stats

Cloudy with a chance of Miraculous

As mentioned in my previous post, the ML fanfics on Ao3 can reflect changing opinions and theories. I wanted to look at this in a more qualitative manner using Ao3 tags, starting with The Miraculous Big Bang (methodology below the cut).

The Miraculous Big Bang is a fandom event that has been running for several years where people collaborate to write fanfics and draw fanart. These collections provide a good snapshot of fanfics written at a particular point in time.

🖤 Word Clouds

The Miraculous Big Bang was run in 2017, 2021, 2022, 2023, which covers a period of six years from Season 1 to Season 5 (see below the cut for more details on the methods).*

2017: There were a lot of tags that mentioned Season 2 spoilers, which suggests that these fics are based off mostly Season 1 content. This collection of fics had a lot of Historical AUs (Sample size: 32) [1].

2021: By now, Luka Couffaine and Kagami Tsurugi feature prominently in the tags for Miraculous Big Bang 2021 (Sample Size: 43 fics) [2].

2022: There are a lot of darker undertones in this word cloud (Sample size: 34 fics).

2023: Noticeable jump in fics labelled for Sentimonsters as well as LGQBTI+ tags (Sample size: 37 fics) [4]

🖤 In summary

Judging from the 2023 big bang, fics were written in the six months prior to posting, so this would cover a pretty sizeable timeframe. For example, Season 2 was aired between December 2017 and November 2018; and introduced rival love interests Luka Couffaine and Kagami Tsurugi.

Luka Couffaine was tagged an average of 10 and Kagami Tsurugi 7.7 times across 2021, 2022 and 2023.

Interestingly, Lila Rossi was introduced in s01e26 (Volpina) and was tagged 8 times in 2023, excluding other tags such as Lila lies, Lila manipulation, Evil Lila Rossi; while tags for Chloe Redemption remained constant (3 fics each in 2017, 2021, 2022, 2023).

* credit to @miraculousbigbang and clairelutra who ran the initial ML Big Bang in 2017, and @mlbigbang who ran the subsequent 2021, 2022 and 2023 Big Bang events.

📈 This Data is a snapshot of the posted fics on Ao3 on

🖤 Acknowledgements

A huge thank you to @miabrown007 and @ryanidious for their help in providing me with information for the mlbigbang 2017!

🖤 Methodology

Sample Collection

Looking at all this quantitative data is fine, but I want to go a bit deeper (but not too deep, I don’t have time to read every single fic). A good way to get an idea on the content of a fic is through the Ao3 tagging system.

I need a way to look through the tags used over time, but this seems like too a mammoth task in Ao3 (more detail on that below the cut).

The good news is that Ao3 has a feature within collections that does that for me!

My instant thought went to the Miraculous Big Bang. It’s perfect because it is an unbiased collection (e.g. if it was a birthday gift or personal collection of recs, the fics would be tailored to the person’s tastes and preferences).

Word Clouds

Word clouds are an interesting tool to quickly look at recurring words. However, major criticisms of this method is that you can lose the context the words are used in. This is a good article to describe considerations when using a word cloud [5]. However, the nature of Ao3 tags is that the context is either inherent or are merely keywords.

Data Cleaning

Now unfortunately this word cloud needed some cleaning to remove commonly used tags. When I first did this all I got was a big image with the words Miraculous, Adrien Agreste, Ladybug, Chat Noir and Marinette Dupain-Cheng, and Miraculous Big Bang which I think you can see is not very informative.

Removed Keywords: Adrien Agreste, Adrienette, Marinette Dupain-Cheng, Ladybug, Chat Noir, Miraculous, Miraculous Big Bang

When these were removed, I put the tags into a free word cloud generator such as https://www.freewordcloudgenerator.com/generatewordcloud.

There is no natural language processing so I have hyphenated common phrases. Ao3's word cloud has already combined the common keywords and enlarged them, so I had to manually check how many times they appear to add them back. It's not exact but it works.

References

[1] Miraculous Big Bang 2017: https://archiveofourown.org/collections/miraculousbang2k17

[2] Miraculous Big Bang 2021: https://archiveofourown.org/collections/MLBB_2021

[3] Miraculous Big Bang 2022: https://archiveofourown.org/collections/MLBB_2022

[4] Miraculous Big Bang 2023: https://archiveofourown.org/collections/MLBB_2023

[5] https://www.betterevaluation.org/methods-approaches/methods/word-cloud

#miraculous fanworks #miraculous ladybug #miraculous fanfic #miraculous fandom #hamster stats #Fandom stats #ao3 stats #mlbigbang #mlbigbang 2023 #mlbigbang 2022 #mlbigbang 2021 #luka couffaine #kagami tsuguri #lila rossi

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mostlysignssomeportents · 1 year

Text

Delegating trust is really, really, really hard (infosec edition)

CORRECTION: A previous version of this thread reported that Trustcor has the same officers as Packet Forensics; they do not; they have the same officers as Measurement Systems. I regret the error.

I’ve got trust issues. We all do. Some infosec pros go so far as to say “trust no one,” a philosophy more formally known as “Zero Trust,” that holds that certain elements of your security should never be delegated to any third party.

The problem is, it’s trust all the way down. Say you maintain your own cryptographic keys on your own device. How do you know the software you use to store those keys is trustworthy? Well, maybe you audit the source-code and compile it yourself.

But how do you know your compiler is trustworthy? When Unix/C co-creator Ken Thompson received the Turing Prize, he either admitted or joked that he had hidden back doors in the compiler he’d written, which was used to compile all of the other compilers:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/10/11/rene-descartes-was-a-drunken-fart/#trusting-trust

OK, say you whittle your own compiler out of a whole log that you felled yourself in an old growth forest that no human had set foot in for a thousand years. How about your hardware? Back in 2018, Bloomberg published a blockbuster story claiming that the server infrastructure of the biggest cloud companies had been compromised with tiny hardware interception devices:

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2018-10-04/the-big-hack-how-china-used-a-tiny-chip-to-infiltrate-america-s-top-companies

The authors claimed to have verified their story in every conceivable way. The companies whose servers were said to have been compromised rejected the entire story. Four years later, we still don’t know who was right.

How do we trust the Bloomberg reporters? How do we trust Apple? If we ask a regulator to investigate their claims, how do we trust the regulator? Hell, how do we trust our senses? And even if we trust our senses, how do we trust our reason? I had a lurid, bizarre nightmare last night where the most surreal events seemed perfectly reasonable (tldr: I was mugged by invisible monsters while trying to order a paloma at the DNA Lounge, who stole my phone and then a bicycle I had rented from the bartender).

If you can’t trust your senses, your reason, the authorities, your hardware, your software, your compiler, or third-party service-providers, well, shit, that’s pretty frightening, isn’t it (paging R. Descartes to a white courtesy phone)?

There’s a joke about physicists, that all of their reasoning begins with something they know isn’t true: “Assume a perfectly spherical cow of uniform density on a frictionless surface…” The world of information security has a lot of these assumptions, and they get us into trouble.

Take internet data privacy and integrity — that is, ensuring that when you send some data to someone else, the data arrives unchanged and no one except that person can read that data. In the earliest days of the internet, we operated on the assumption that the major threat here was technical: our routers and wires might corrupt or lose the data on the way.

The solution was the ingenious system of packet-switching error-correction, a complex system that allowed the sender to verify that the recipient had gotten all the parts of their transmission and resend the parts that disappeared en route.

This took care of integrity, but not privacy. We mostly just pretended that sysadmins, sysops, network engineers, and other people who could peek at our data “on the wire” wouldn’t, even though we knew that, at least some of the time, this was going on. The fact that the people who provided communications infrastructure had a sense of duty and mission didn’t mean they wouldn’t spy on us — sometimes, that was why they peeked, just to be sure that we weren’t planning to mess up “their” network.

The internet always carried “sensitive” information — love letters, private discussions of health issues, political plans — but it wasn’t until investors set their sights on commerce that the issue of data privacy came to the fore. The rise of online financial transactions goosed the fringe world of cryptography into the mainstream of internet development.

This gave rise to an epic, three-sided battle, between civil libertarians, spies, and business-people. For years, the civil liberties people had battled the spy agencies over “strong encryption” (more properly called “working encryption” or just “encryption”).

The spy agencies insisted that civilization would collapse if they couldn’t wiretap any and every message traversing the internet, and maintained that they would neither abuse this facility, nor would they screw up and let someone else do so (“trust us,” they said).

The business world wanted to be able to secure their customers’ data, at least to the extent that an insurer would bail them out if they leaked it; and they wanted to actually secure their own data from rivals and insider threats.

Businesses lacked the technological sophistication to evaluate the spy agencies’ claims that there was such a thing as encryption that would keep their data secure from “bad guys” but would fail completely whenever a “good guy” wanted to peek at it.

In a bid to educate them on this score, EFF co-founder John Gilmore built a $250,000 computer that could break the (already broken) cryptography the NSA and other spy agencies claimed businesses could rely on, in just a couple hours. The message of this DES Cracker was that anyone with $250,000 will be able to break into the communications of any American business:

https://cryptome.org/jya/des-cracker.htm

Fun fact: John got tired of the bar-fridge-sized DES Cracker cluttering up his garage and he sent it to my house for safekeeping; it’s in my office next to my desk in LA. If I ever move to the UK, I’ll have to leave it behind because it’s (probably) still illegal to export.

The deadlock might have never been broken but for a key lawsuit: Cindy Cohn (now EFF’s executive director) won the Bernstein case, which established that publishing cryptographic source-code was protected by the First Amendment:

https://www.eff.org/cases/bernstein-v-us-dept-justice

With cryptography legalized, browser vendors set about securing the data-layer in earnest, expanding and formalizing the “public key infrastructure” (PKI) in browsers. Here’s how that works: your browser ships with a list of cryptographic keys from trusted “certificate authorities.” These are entities that are trusted to issue “certificates” to web-hosts, which are used to wrap up their messages to you.

When you open a connection to “https://foo.com," Foo sends you a stream of data that is encrypted with a key identified as belonging to “foo.com” (this key is Foo’s “certificate” — it certifies that the user of this key is Foo, Inc). That certificate is, in turn, signed by a “Certificate Authority.”

Any Certificate Authority can sign any certificate — your browser ships with a long list of these CAs, and if any one of them certifies that the bearer is “Foo.com,” that server can send your browser “secure” traffic and it will dutifully display the data with all assurances that it arrived from one of Foo, Inc’s servers.

This means that you are trusting all of the Certificate Authorities that come with your browser, and you’re also trusting the company that made your browser to choose good Certificate Authorities. This is a lot of trust. If any of those CAs betrays your trust and issues a bad cert, it can be used to reveal, copy, and alter the data you send and receive from a server that presents that certificate.

You’d hope that certificate authorities would be very prudent, cautious and transparent — and that browser vendors would go to great lengths to verify that they were. There are PKI models for this: for example, the “DNS root keys” that control the internet’s domain-name service are updated via a formal, livestreamed ceremony:

https://www.cloudflare.com/dns/dnssec/root-signing-ceremony/

There are 14 people entrusted to perform this ceremony, and at least three must be present at each performance. The keys are stored at two facilities, and the attendees need to show government ID to enter them (is the government that issued the ID trustworthy? Do you trust the guards to verify it? Ugh, my head hurts).

Further access to the facility is controlled by biometric locks (do you trust the lock maker? How about the person who registers the permitted handprints?). Everyone puts a wet signature in a logbook. A staffer has their retina scanned and presents a smartcard.

Then the staffer opens a safe that has a “tamper proof” (read: “tamper resistant”) hardware module whose manufacturer is trusted (why?) not to have made mistakes or inserted a back-door. A special laptop (also trusted) is needed to activate the safe’s hardware module. The laptop “has no battery, hard disk, or even a clock backup battery, and thus can’t store state once it’s unplugged.” Or, at least, the people in charge of it claim that it doesn’t and can’t.

The ceremony continues: the safe yields a USB stick and a DVD. Each of the trusted officials hands over a smart card that they trust and keep in a safe deposit box in a tamper-evident bag. The special laptop is booted from the trusted DVD and mounts the trusted USB stick. The trusted cards are used to sign three months worth of keys, and these are the basis for the next quarter’s worth of secure DNS queries.

All of this is published, videoed, livestreamed, etc. It’s a real “defense in depth” situation where you’d need a very big conspiracy to subvert all the parts of the system that need to work in order to steal underlying secrets. Yes, bottom line, you’re still trusting people, but in part you’re trusting them not to be able to all keep a secret from the rest of us.

The process for determining which CAs are trusted by your browser is a lot less transparent and, judging from experience, a lot less thorough. Many of these CAs have proven to be manifestly untrustworthy over the years. There was Diginotar, a Dutch CA whose bad security practices left it vulnerable to a hack-attack:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DigiNotar

Some people say it was Iranian government hackers, who used its signing keys to forge certificates and spy on Iranian dissidents, who are liable to arrest, torture and execution. Other people say it was the NSA pretending to be Iranian government hackers:

https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2013/09/new_nsa_leak_sh.html

In 2015, the China Internet Network Information Center was used to issue fake Google certificates, which gave hackers the power to intercept and take over Google accounts and devices linked to them (e.g. Android devices):

https://thenextweb.com/news/google-to-drop-chinas-cnnic-root-certificate-authority-after-trust-breach

In 2019, the UAE cyber-arms dealer Darkmatter — an aggressive recruiter of American ex-spies — applied to become a trusted Certificate Authority, but was denied:

https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/usa-spying-raven/

Browser PKI is very brittle. By design, any of the trusted CAs can compromise every site on the internet. An early attempt to address this was “certificate pinning,” whereby browsers shipped with a database of which CAs were authorized to issue certificates for major internet companies. That meant that even though your browser trusted Crazy Joe’s Discount House of Certification to issue certs for any site online, it also knew that Google didn’t use Crazy Joe, and any google.com certs that Crazy Joe issued would be rejected.

But pinning has a scale problem: there are billions of websites and many of them change CAs from time to time, which means that every browser now needs a massive database of CA-site pin-pairs, and a means to trust the updates that site owners submit to browsers with new information about which CAs can issue their certificates.

Pinning was a stopgap. It was succeeded by a radically different approach: surveillance, not prevention. That surveillance tool is Certificate Transparency (CT), a system designed to quickly and publicly catch untrustworthy CAs that issue bad certificates:

https://www.nature.com/articles/491325a

Here’s how Certificate Transparency works: every time your browser receives a certificate, it makes and signs a tiny fingerprint of that certificate, recording the date, time, and issuing CA, as well as proof that the CA signed the certificate with its private key. Every few minutes, your browser packages up all these little fingerprints and fires them off to one or more of about a dozen public logs:

https://certificate.transparency.dev/logs/

These logs use a cool cryptographic technology called Merkle trees that make them tamper-evident: that means that if some alters the log (say, to remove or forge evidence of a bad cert), everyone who’s got a copy of any of the log’s previous entries can tell that the alteration took place.

Merkle Trees are super efficient. A modest server can easily host the eight billion or so CT records that exist to date. Anyone can monitor any of these public logs, checking to see whether a CA they don’t recognize has issued a certificate for their own domain, and then prove that the CA has betrayed its mission.

CT works. It’s how we learned that Symantec engaged in incredibly reckless behavior: as part of their test-suite for verifying a new certificate-issuing server, they would issue fake Google certificates. These were supposed to be destroyed after creation, but at least one leaked and showed up in the CT log:

https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2017/03/google-takes-symantec-to-the-woodshed-for-mis-issuing-30000-https-certs/

It wasn’t just Google — Symantec had issued tens of thousands of bad certs. Worse: Symantec was responsible for more than a third of the web’s certificates. We had operated on the blithe assumption that Symantec was a trustworthy entity — a perfectly spherical cow of uniform density — but on inspection it was proved to be a sloppy, reckless mess.

After the Symantec scandal, browser vendors cleaned house — they ditched Symantec from browsers’ roots of trust. A lot of us assumed that this scandal would also trigger a re-evaluation of how CAs demonstrated that they were worth of inclusion in a browser’s default list of trusted entities.

If that happened, it wasn’t enough.

Yesterday, the Washington Post’s Joseph Menn published an in-depth investigation into Trustcor, a certificate authority that is trusted by default by Safari, Chrome and Firefox:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/11/08/trustcor-internet-addresses-government-connections/

Menn’s report is alarming. Working from reports from University of Calgary privacy researcher Joel Reardon and UC Berkeley security researcher Serge Egelman, Menn presented a laundry list of profoundly disturbing problems with Trustcor:

https://groups.google.com/a/mozilla.org/g/dev-security-policy/c/oxX69KFvsm4/m/etbBho-VBQAJ

First, there’s an apparent connection to Packet Forensics, a high-tech arms dealer that sells surveillance equipment to the US government. One of Trustcor’s partners is a holding company managed by Packet Forensics spokesman Raymond Saulino.

If Trustcor is working with (or part of) Packet Forensics, it could issue fake certificates for any internet site that Packet Forensics could use to capture, read and modify traffic between that site and any browser. One of Menn’s sources claimed that Packet Forensics “used TrustCor’s certificate process and its email service, MsgSafe, to intercept communications and help the U.S. government.”

Trustcor denies this, as did the general counsel for Packet Forensics.

Should we trust either of them? It’s hard to understand why we would. Take Trustcor: as mentioned, it has a “private” email service called “Msgsafe,” that claims to offer end-to-end encrypted email. But it is not encrypted end-to-end — it sends copies of its users’ private keys to Trustcor, allowing the company (or anyone who hacks the company) to intercept its email.

It’s hard to avoid the conclusion that Trustcor is making an intentionally deceptive statement about how its security products work, or it lacks the basic technical capacity to understand how those products should work. You’d hope that either of those would disqualify Trustcor from being trusted by default by billions of browsers.

It’s worse than that, though: there are so many red flags about Trustcor beyond the defects in Msgsafe. Menn found that that company’s website identified two named personnel, both supposed founders. One of those men was dead. The other one’s Linkedin profile has him departing the company in 2019.

The company lists two phone numbers. One is out of service. The other goes to unmonitored voicemail. The company’s address is a UPS Store in Toronto. Trustcor’s security audits are performed by the “Princeton Audit Group” whose address is a private residence in Princeton, NJ.

A company spokesperson named Rachel McPherson publicly responded to Menn’s article and Reardon and Egelman’s report with a bizarre, rambling message:

https://groups.google.com/a/mozilla.org/g/dev-security-policy/c/oxX69KFvsm4/m/X_6OFLGfBQAJ

In it, McPherson insinuates that Reardon and Egelman are just trying to drum up business for a small security research business they run called Appsecure. She says that Msgsafe’s defects aren’t germane to Trustcor’s Certificate Authority business, instead exhorting the researchers to make “positive suggestions for improving that product suite.”

As to the company’s registration, she makes a difficult-to-follow claim that the irregularities are due to using the same Panamanian law-firm as Packet Forensics, says that she needs to investigate some missing paperwork, and makes vague claims about “insurance impersonation” and “potential for foul play.”

Certificate Authorities have one job: to be very, very, very careful. The parts of Menn’s story and Reardon and Egelman’s report that aren’t disputed are, to my mind, enough to disqualify them from inclusion in browsers’ root of trust.

But the disputed parts — which I personally believe, based on my trust in Menn, which comes from his decades of careful and excellent reporting — are even worse.

For example, Menn makes an excellent case that Packet Forensics is not credible. In 2007, a company called Vostrom Holdings applied for permission for Packet Forensics to do business in Virginia as “Measurement Systems.” Measurement Systems, in turn, tricked app vendors into bundling spyware into their apps, which gathered location data that Measurement Systems sold to private and government customers. Measurement Systems’ data included the identities of 10,000,000 users of Muslim prayer apps.

Packet Forensics denies that it owns Measurement Systems, which doesn’t explain why Vostrom Holdings asked the state of Virginia to let it do business as Measurement Systems. Vostrom also owns the domain “Trustcor.co,” which directed to Trustcor’s main site. Trustcor’s “president, agents and holding-company partners” are identical to those of Measurement Systems.

One of the holding companies listed in both Trustcor and Measurement Systems’ ownership structures is Frigate Bay Holdings. This March, Raymond Saulino — the one-time Packet Forensics spokesman — filed papers in Wyoming identifying himself as manager of Frigate Bay Holdings.

Neither Menn nor Reardon and Egelman claim that Packet Forensics has obtained fake certificates from Trustcor to help its customers spy on their targets, something that McPherson stresses in her reply. However, Menn’s source claims that this is happening.

These companies are so opaque and obscure that it might be impossible to ever find out what’s really going on, and that’s the point. For the web to have privacy, the Certificate Authorities that hold the (literal) keys to that privacy must be totally transparent. We can’t assume that they are perfectly spherical cows of uniform density.

In a reply to Reardon and Egelman’s report, Mozilla’s Kathleen Wilson asked a series of excellent, probing followup questions for Trustcor, with the promise that if Trustcor failed to respond quickly and satisfactorily, it would be purged from Firefox’s root of trust:

https://groups.google.com/a/mozilla.org/g/dev-security-policy/c/oxX69KFvsm4/m/WJXUELicBQAJ

Which is exactly what you’d hope a browser vendor would do when one of its default Certificate Authorities was credibly called into question. But that still leaves an important question: how did Trustcor, who marketed a defective security product, whose corporate ownership is irregular and opaque with a seeming connection to a cyber-arms-dealer, end up in our browsers’ root of trust to begin with?

Formally, the process for inclusion in the root of trust is quite good. It’s a two-year vetting process that includes an external audit:

https://wiki.mozilla.org/CA/Application_Process

But Daniel Schwalbe, CISO of Domain Tools, told Menn that this process was not closely watched, claiming “With enough money, you or I could become a trusted root certificate authority.” Menn’s unnamed Packet Forensics source claimed that most of the vetting process was self-certified — that is, would-be CAs merely had to promise they were doing the right thing.

Remember, Trustcor isn’t just in Firefox’s root of trust — it’s in the roots of trust for Chrome (Google) and Safari (Apple). All the major browser vendors were supposed to investigate this company and none of them disqualified it, despite all the vivid red flags.

Worse, Reardon and Egelman say they notified all three companies about the problems with Trustcor seven months ago, but didn’t hear back until they published their findings publicly on Tuesday.

There are 169 root certificate authorities in Firefox, and comparable numbers in the other major browsers. It’s inconceivable that you could personally investigate each of these and determine whether you want to trust it. We rely on the big browser vendors to do that work for us. We start with: “Assume the browser vendors are careful and diligent when it comes to trusting companies on our behalf.” We assume that these messy, irregular companies are perfectly spherical cows of uniform density on a frictionless surface.

The problem of trust is everywhere. Vaccine deniers say they don’t trust the pharma companies not to kill them for money, and don’t trust the FDA to hold them to account. Unless you have a PhD in virology, cell biology and epidemiology, you can’t verify the claims of vaccine safety. Even if you have those qualifications, you’re trusting that the study data in journals isn’t forged.

I trust vaccines — I’ve been jabbed five times now — but I don’t think it’s unreasonable to doubt either Big Pharma or its regulators. A decade ago, my chronic pain specialist told me I should take regular doses of powerful opioids, and pooh-poohed my safety and addiction concerns. He told me that pharma companies like Purdue and regulators like the FDA had re-evaluated the safety of opioids and now deemed them far safer.

I “did my own research” and concluded that this was wrong. I concluded that the FDA had been captured by a monopolistic and rapacious pharma sector that was complicit in waves of mass-death that produced billions in profits for the Sackler family and other opioid crime-bosses.

I was an “opioid denier.” I was right. The failure of the pharma companies to act in good faith, and the failure of the regulator to hold them to account is a disaster that has consequences beyond the mountain of overdose deaths. There’s a direct line from that failure to vaccine denial, and another to the subsequent cruel denial of pain meds to people who desperately need them.

Today, learning that the CA-vetting process I’d blithely assumed was careful and sober-sided is so slapdash that a company without a working phone or a valid physical address could be trusted by billions of browsers, I feel like I did when I decided not to fill my opioid prescription.

I feel like I’m on the precipice of a great, epistemological void. I can’t “do my own research” for everything. I have to delegate my trust. But when the companies and institutions I rely on to be prudent (not infallible, mind, just prudent) fail this way, it makes me want to delete all the certificates in my browser.

Which would, of course, make the web wildly insecure.

Unless it’s already that insecure.

Ugh.

Image:

Curt Smith (modified)

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sand_castle,_Cannon_Beach.jpg

CC BY 2.0:

https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/deed.en

[Image ID: An animated gif of a sand-castle that is melting into the rising tide; through the course of the animation, the castle gradually fills up with a Matrix-style 'code waterfall' effect.]

#pluralistic

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undergroundkdrama · 1 year

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#KDRAMAWOMENSWEEK 2023 | March 8th – 15th 2023

[alternatively: a week and one day to talk about and make things for women you appreciate in celebration of International Women’s Day] Inspired by @evansbrewster that’s no longer on Tumblr.com.

@kdramaladies will be hosting the event as well. I’ll reblog where I can and try to be present. Prompts courtesy of @dramaheroine who has dont 99.9999% of getting this week to happen, prompts and more, thanks so much. Gifs courtesy of @cuddlybitch, @haeyeongs and @orangesyellow. Thank you all so so much. Thank you to everyone that checks in about this when I am sure I’ll be sitting it out. KWW has been happening for eight years, this being the ninth which is nuts.

Please tag your posts #kdramawomensweek and/or @undergroundkdrama so they are easier to find, admire, and reblog.

Day 1: In Her Head

Women with rich inner worlds, full of hidden thoughts, desires and fantasies. Are her thoughts being revealed to the viewers in visually exciting ways? Think dream sequences, a touch of magical realism, voiceovers, a cut to a talking head or perhaps weird little animated cells…

Day 2: “It” Girl

2021 was all about Haves and Haves Not x2000. 2022 was the year of women in the legal profession. Tell us which of the characters fitting this year’s trend you have enjoyed the most and why. What made them better than the rest? Or what else do you think has been a popular theme/genre/topic for 2022 dramas? How did women fit into the equation? Here are a few examples: gangsters, “behind the scenes”, school violence, countryside living etc.

Day 3: The Help

Women holding everything together in the background, women who have to do all the dirty work, who do thankless labour regardless of the setting or time period. Servants, secretaries, domestic staff, cleaners, nurses, nannies, care workers, housewives…Let’s put some time aside to ‘celebrate those who don’t celebrate’ because they are too busy keeping things running.

Day 4: Bad Girls Club

Everyone loves an angst filled, angry revenge drama so lets talk about the women who seek revenge? Women who hold grudges and whose hearts are filled with rage. Women who hurt others (knowingly and unknowingly). Women who seek power over others and/or themselves in cruel ways. A day for celebrating women’s wrongs.

Day 5: Recommend Her!

Choose your fave – give us a Top 10 that you think she’d make e.g. Spotify Wrapped, her 2023 reading list, her watchlist. Personally, I think that Lee Yeo Reum from Summer Strike listens to a playlist like this (https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3yrqVOEnwQG4z8czX8qD4k?si=36e45bbaeaad4892) as she walks around the village trying to make sense of who she is and what she wants. Today’s a day for projecting and recommending. Sneak your recs in here.

Day 6: Funny Girl Woman

We know women are funny, here’s your time to show love to the actresses who predominately act in comedies, female characters who you find hilarious and actresses who provide the perfect comedic relief every time they pop up onscreen.

Day 7: Lee Yoon Jung/Noh Hee Kyung OR Surprise!

Two pioneering women behind many of our classic favourite dramas. Think of this as a space for tributes to them, what you love about their dramas, Lee Yoon Jung’s direction, Noh Hee Kyung’s writing, your favourite female characters from their dramas… OR Your favourite cameos by actresses! Who used their tiny bit of screen time in the best way possible?!

Day 8: Timeslip

What if time travel really existed? What if two female characters from different dramas, from different tv eras could meet? How are they connected? Why should they meet? Think of this as an opportunity for you to travel back in time.

Please also feel free to be inspired by the prompts from previous years (2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2020 Part Deux, 2021, 2022).

#kdramaedit #kdramasource #userdramas #asiandramanet #asiandramasource #kdrama women's week #kdramawomensweek #and I am very thankful always for everyone that participates #i hope you're all doing well and live isn't kicking your ass too hard #and that you're giving yourself the grace that you'll be giving these characters this week!#bc that's what it's all about and all that mushy stuff #thank you thank you <3 #this will always mean something to me even though i am a flake and i don't have the strength or time and sometimes even the energy or will #thanks again to dramaheroine #truly a heroine #thank you

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slaviclore · 16 days

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Chopin biographies from 2010+

keeping track of my chopinology resources, and I figured someone might find it useful -- this is not an exhaustive list of available literature, just stuff I've personally read, and I will be adding to it over time.

Chasing Chopin: A Musical Journey Across Three Centuries, Four Countries, and a Half-Dozen Revolutions (2020)

by Annik LaFarge

English language, audiobook available

Summary: This is a partial biography of Chopin from the perspective of his composition of the funeral march. This book is written in a super engaging, conversational style, and it comes with a fun multimedia web site with music and videos for context.

Major pro: What sets this book apart from the other biographies in the field is LaFarge's exceptional empathy for her subjects. This may not seem like a big deal, but it is for a field that has been at times unnecessarily cruel to some of the humans in the story. That's partly why this book is my top recommendation for anyone wanting to understand Chopin's contentious relationship with his famous life partner of 9-ish years, George Sand (a woman using a man's name).

Major con: Using the composition of Chopin's arguably most famous work as the blueprint of his life story works well organizationally, but it doesn't actually add much to our understanding of the funeral march itself, beyond its personal impact on the author or, perhaps more broadly, the modern music lover.

Best for: anyone just wanting to read something engaging about music and history. If you don't know anything about Chopin, the history of Poland, or the funeral march, this is perfect.

Chopin. Miłość i pasja (2020)

by Iwona Kienzler

Polish language, no translation available as far as I know, audiobook (in Polish) available

Summary: This is a full biography with emphasis on the various romances that have been linked to Chopin over the last 200 years or so, real or not, even the ones we're not talking about anymore.

Major pro: There has been so much flowery language dedicated to the many and varied romances that Chopin did -- or maybe did or definitely didn't but we still talked about it a lot -- engage in, this book is refreshing for its sober tone and healthy skepticism on the subject. The author tells us what we know, what we don't know, and gives a historical perspective of the shifting notions the field has entertained over time.

Major con: The biography is fairly standard and doesn't expand the field much.

Best for: the casual reader of history, or the serious reader of the history of shipping.

Fryderyk Chopin: A Life and Times (2018)

by Alan Walker

English language, audiobook available

Summary: This is a full biography meant to encompass not only the entire course of Chopin's life but also the relevant social, political and cultural environment, the fates of people important to the story, and the musical context.

Major pro: Walker's effort to recreate the rich historical and social background of Chopin's life is unique in the field for its scope and detail, i.e., he gives a lot of information where most biographers stick only to summaries of critical events. This fact, as well as Walker's efforts to introduce or emphasize unknown or marginalized resources and documents, make his book an important blueprint for anyone studying Chopin, or even the early 19th century overall.

Major con: Walker's interpretations of Chopin's correspondence are dated and dense, which is a problem because the correspondence is the most important primary source we have (the musical compositions cannot be directly analyzed for concrete meaning). Most of Walker's takes on the content of the letters can be traced to interpretations made by previous biographers (whether or not he cites these is a toss-up), so it's not like anyone has ever done better per se -- however, the field now has the resources to do this work more perceptively. Walker had the opportunity (and I believe the responsibility) to step up to do that, but because he didn't, his biography was outdated the day it came off the press.

Best for: the reader already somewhat familiar with Chopin's biography, who is interested in developing a more complete image of the story, but who is also able to make critical judgments on the historical analysis, or at least recognize where such were made by the author. Also good for historians.

Chopin's Piano: In Search of the Instrument that Transformed Music (2018)

by Paul Kildea

English language, audiobook available

Summary: This is a partial biography of Chopin from the perspective of his composition of the Preludes and one of the pianos on which he composed them. The history picks up long after his death with a partial biography of Wanda Landowska, the famous pianist who eventually came to own the piano, through WWII.

Major pro: This approach is unique in Chopin biography for addressing his impact on the difficult history of the 20th century, with Nazis stealing the piano and Landowska's efforts to get it back. This creates depth of perspective where Chopin biography usually ends shortly after his death. It's a different type of story than the field is used to.

Major con: Because the scope is so broad, this book gives less of Chopin's own story overall, and sometimes the thread feels disjointed.

Best for: casual readers looking for an interesting, well-written story, or a historian interested in WWII-time chopinology.

Chopin: Prince of the Romantics (2010)

by Adam Zamoyski

English language, no audiobook

Summary: This is an updated edition of Zamoyski's 1979 Chopin biography (which I did not read, so I can't compare). This is my personal recommendation for a casual reader looking for a full biography, Chopin birth to Chopin death, and a good read.

Major pro: engagingly written, hits all the important points, and contains ample citations to direct the reader to major resources in the field.

Major con: contains some mythology that historians wouldn't take seriously today.

Best for: the casual reader, no previous Chopin knowledge required.

#chopin #history #music #my chopin list #book recommendations #fryderyk chopin #frédéric chopin

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asklotarasarrin · 1 month

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Lessons from Adepticon

//An out-of-character musing about the weekend.

So while sitting the the airport waiting for our return flight, I had some time to muse on the course of the weekend.

It's been a lot of fun! We did have a good time; I really enjoyed meeting some online friends, dressing up, and playing games. It was also a learning experience, as every con is a little different and every venue has its quirks. It's very much a competition and playing convention, with an array of hobbying layered over it, so going without the intent to compete or play does curb a significant amount of the actual events.

It's definitely not a costume convention. There were probably about two dozen full on costumes for a convention with eight thousand visitors. Apparently in previous years there have been costume competitions, but its been awhile(last documented thing I could find was for 2018). In talking to the staff about it, there was some (semi-joking?) suggestion that I should volunteer to staff next year and run it myself. Then another veteran staffer said she'd look into running it. I got her email with the offer of supporting that venture. So maybe. lol.

We did also meet the staff for NOVA Opens costume contest with three encouragement to make the trip down. So we might have to add that to the list.

As one of only a handful of costumed persons(and maybe a touch of arrogance, definitely one of the best), I was WELL received for the most part. Lots of enthusiasm, lots of squeals, and lots of pictures. I will definitely do that again. We did have some costume mishaps (my Jedi&lotara boots will need total replacing)and I will probably do some upgrades/additions for the future.

It was also not a ribbon convention, so almost everyone I gave a ribbon to needed explanation for what it was/how it worked. But maybe with the power of repetition and exposure, we can change that lol. I did really enjoy handing them out because there was also an air of wonder and enthusiasm about it.

Hobby seminars! We really enjoyed our resin class and our freehand class. We also learned the hard way that there was a BIG difference between a "demo" hobby seminar and a "hands on" hobby seminar. I admittedly didn’t notice the difference(since they're both hobby seminars) until we discovered we'd paid 40$+ a head for what amounted to an in-person version of a youtube video. Not a mistake I will make twice. In the future I expect we'll only take classes for things we dont think we could somewhat easily learn via youtube or would otherwise not benefit from a teacher hanging over our shoulder for guidance. We'll also likely watch a youtube video or two of teachers ahead of time- some people, while very talented/experienced, are just not great teachers.

My brother will likely bring a mobile hobby painting set up next year, as there was some down time to paint. I’m not totally sold on the idea but we shall see lol. We did end up picking up a number of models and such, so I am glad we had some extra bag space.

All in all, an excellent experience. We will likely return next year, a little more prepared and ready to battle. :)

#out of command #adepticon #after action report

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meimi-haneoka · 1 year

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Cardcaptor Sakura Clear Card Chapter 72: Comments + JP-ENG translation differences

Hellooo everyone! The plot-train that will bring us to the finale of Cardcaptor Sakura Clear Card Arc is unstoppable, so here we are once again, at the beginning of another month, for another chapter of the climax of this saga!! April 1st as usual is a very busy and important day in the CLAMP world, as it is not only the so-called "CLAMP Day", but also the birthday of our Sakura Kinomoto (and many other CLAMP characters!)!! Moreover, precisely as I'm writing this post, SakuraFes is being held in Tokyo!! Fans strived hard to get a ticket (I could see the struggle on my TL on Twitter) and while some managed to get one somehow, others were left out....since there's been lots of anticipation for this event, we'll see if it was worth the struggle and if we'll get info about the thing we're all waiting the most for: a second season of the Clear Card anime!! (UPDATE: IT WAS INDEED ANNOUNCED like we all hoped for!! Congratulations to all of us!! 😂)

In the meantime, let's focus on the analysis of chapter 72 because boooooy, it might be one of the shortest chapters ever (I remember chapters this short were released in 2018) but the info that was disclosed in it!!! We're definitely, definitely at the climax and it shows. CLAMP sensei are solving all the mysteries and giving us all the answers one by one. But since this is important info that will help us understanding the story better, let's review this chapter (and its translation) carefully!

And as usual, before diving under the cut and into the chapter, the gif of the month (paying homage to Lilie, lol) !!

The Cover Page

Oooh, what a pretty Sakura we have here!! She looks as if being half-asleep, and judging by the content of the chapter, it kinda makes sense. Sakura stays in a dream for the most of it. The simple dress is very elegant with all those gemstones applied on it. It also looks as if Sakura is creating them? Also, we have once again the black background that's become so common lately in the color pages of Clear Card. With that expression, Sakura looks a little bit more mature, and I really like it. The text in the JP version reminds us again of the last words Lilie said in the previous chapter: "I crossed time and dreams to come to see you".

"I know her very well, and yet I don't know anything about her"

The chapter starts right from where we left off at the end of chapter 71, with our Sakura and Lilie meeting for the first time....or is it?? 😉 Sakura sounds a bit confused at what Lilie said, but as usual (bless her!!!) she's very perceptive and notices that Lilie resembles Akiho a lot, more than actually Sakura herself. Lilie seems delighted and answers "I'm happy to hear that!!" (and not "Thank you!" like she said in the ENG translation). I was all smily when I've read this for the first time, but what came right after threw me in a puddle of sadness, and now you'll understand why. Sakura asks her if she knows Akiho, and Lilie's answer is "I could say I know her very well, and at the same time, that I don't know anything about her. And that makes me terribly sad". That's it. I was all giddy and happy to finally hear Lilie starting to talk, and she had to throw this brick made of sadness at me like that, right in the beginning. 😭😭Because it's clear here she's referring to the fact that despite being her own daughter, she won't survive long enough to see her grow up. Not even long enough to ascertain who she will look more similar to, her mom or her dad. Because Lilie died when Akiho wasn't even 1 year old. She was just a baby. The realization tinted that "I'm so happy to hear that!" we've seen before of the same sad color. ☹️ BUT!! We're not here to get shot down by angst so early in the chapter, so we proceed with Lilie apologizing for making things so confusing for Sakura, and she informs her they're in a dream. Then she finally proceeds to give some explanations on what's she's been trying to do this whole time, at the same time solving one of the BIGGEST mysteries in the Clear Card Arc. The question everyone had ever since chapter 1 was: "who's under the cloak of the Mysterious Cloaked Figure?" And here, my dear readers, we finally get our answer, in the year of the lord 2023, 7 years after the beginning of the manga: MCF WAS LILIE ALL ALONG!!! But let's see her version of the facts. Basically, Lilie in the beginning strived hard to travel through time alone to speak directly with Sakura at the age of 13 years old (HOW F*CKING POWERFUL IS THIS CHILD??), but it wasn't successful because her voice didn't reach our girl. We see a flashback right from chapter 7 with someone dressed with the robe standing right outside Sakura's house. Do you remember that? Yeah, MCF didn't appear only in dreams, but also physically in Sakura's reality. These scenes appeared in the anime as well and in the end we found out that under the cloak there was a sleepwalking Akiho, acting completely unconsciously. As it's typical with CLAMP anime, this turned out to be different in the manga! (But there's still a chance they'll explain that scene of the anime in a different way!) I had the impression, for a long time, that MCF was a different person depending on the dream Sakura had, or depending on whether MCF appeared in a dream or not. Well! Turns out even that intuition was wrong, because MCF was ALWAYS the same person, it's just that...some big mess happened, but let's see how Lilie explained it herself. Since her voice couldn't reach Sakura, and since our girl kept seeing the future ahead in her premonitory dreams, Lilie tried to get in touch with her through the dreams she was having.

But, for a twist of fate (I know you're all laughing right now) Lilie ended up mingling with Sakura's foretelling dreams. Yessir. When we saw MCF apparently "attacking" Sakura, or riding on top of Dragon-chan, she actually didn't have anything to do with it. She just ended up being mixed in the middle of all of that. Sakura sometimes dreamt about a "force" pulling her key away, and Lilie ended up in front of it, thus suggesting that MCF was the one trying to grab it. Turns out, it was Lilie probably trying to talk or communicate with Sakura in some way. But hold on, the revelations aren't over yet, oh no. Lilie explains how that mingling with Sakura's dreams went quite wrong.

Because yes, when one of her premonitory dreams was trying to warn her about Kaito taking the appearance of Syaoran during the play, with the Cat costume...well....Lilie ended up mixing in again, and that's how we got our MCF Syaoran. Hahahahaha! Are you baffled?? 😂Well I have to say I had so many theories as to why Sakura saw Syaoran under the cloak of MCF, some even concerning the psychological side...well, damn. Sakura simply never truly doubted her boyfriend and silly of me for thinking she could 😂 Also, we know now that we can rest assured Syaoran won't turn into an evil pawn or something...it was just a huge misunderstanding. Poor Lilie, I can't really hold it against her even though she ended up making a huge mess, because she really strived hard however she could, and...fate didn't work in her favor, apparently...until the right moment, that is (remember, hitsuzen always knows when it's the right time!) Moreover, Lilie tells Sakura that she already dreamed of this very same meeting they're having now, and guess when that was? Yes, at the end of chapter 6, precisely in the scene I mentioned in my post for chapter 71!!

After the shocking revelation (that made me yell at CLAMP once again for how astutely they FOOLED all of us for 7 years - I'm pretty sure no one thought about this possibility), I started to realize something. Sakura, in her premonitory dreams, pretty much dreamt about things mainly connected to Kaito. The "You won't be able to come back anymore" voice? It was the Association + Squids threatening Kaito with what would've happened if he dared touching the artifact inside Akiho. Dragon-chan? As its shape it's basically the same of the Seal of D that engulfed Kaito right before he disappeared into the artifact book, we can safely say it's strictly connected to him as well. MCF Syaoran? He was actually Kaito himself, disguised as the Syaoran-Cat of the play. I have to admit it, I had started getting signs that one of the MCFs Sakura was talking to during her dreams might have been Kaito, at some point. I knew the height worked against my theory, but when Sakura said "You look....so lonely" in chapter 48, right when Akiho had supposedly the same dream and confessed her love to Kaito through "the moon is beautiful" phrase right after that, I knew the "lonely" one could be none other than Kaito. Maybe Sakura was supposed to see Kaito in her dream, that one time, but Lilie mixed up again. Heh. 😅 And here we get our first serious translation mistake that can easily create confusion. Lilie goes on saying that the Cards Sakura had newly created (thus the Clear Cards) have now disappeared, and her magical powers diminished by an amount corresponding to the power of those Cards. Moreover, the Cards that once were separated from her (the Sakura Cards) are now back with her and their connection to her became stronger than before (well, we have seen it, Sakura now summons Mirror even without a particular reason, just to talk). Here, the ENG translation completely skipped the distinction between the two decks of Cards (in the JP version Lilie clearly talks about "the cards you had newly created" and "the cards that were once separated from you"), making Lilie sound as if she's still talking about the Clear Cards even in the second panel.......when we can clearly see the back of the Sakura Cards there. And right in the next panel, we have yet another translation mistake. They completely made up what the Book did here. ENG: What's more, the book's forbidden magic...can only turn back time so far. It has no power over times before the caster or the target were born. He's younger than me... JP: Moreover, the "forbidden magic" (that originated) after using the Book does not reach further than the (moment in) time when the person who activated it and the target of said magic were born. And "that boy" is younger than me.

Lilie never mentions anything about the Book "turning back time". The "forbidden magic"'s work is to rewrite the memories that were recorded in the Book, it does not turn back time. I wish they made that clearer, it's been messed with even in the previous chapters!

But it's not over, as even the next sentence suggests something that in my opinion is incorrect. Lilie goes on explaining that for this reason, she decided to visit Sakura "now" that she's the same age as hers (she literally says the word 今, which for her is her present), crossing time and dreams to reach her. However, the ENG translation here says "So I've come to you from the time when I was the same age as you", suggesting that adult Lilie went back in time to reach Sakura's age and then went to visit Sakura in a dream. There's nothing that suggests that, in the JP sentence. As she will say herself later, Lilie is capable of seeing the future so much ahead, so it seems convoluted that she'd wait to become an adult, just to go back in time to when she was almost 13 (supposedly Sakura's age) and then cross time again to go see Sakura in the future. It makes more sense for her to attempt this when she was *already* 13 years old. I checked the other translations, and the Portuguese and French seem to agree with me (they translate correctly that 今 with "now that we have the same age").

Anyway. For Lilie it was important to attempt this now, while the Book's power can't reach her and mess with her goal, and while Kaito and Akiho aren't born yet. And she adds "(I've come to see) You, the cute Alice (daughter) of the girl named after a flower who became my friend", and we see a nice flashback of a little Nadeshiko, at the same age when she met Lilie. Sakura in this way understands that Lilie knows her mother. Sakura asks if Lilie came from the past and whether she came to tell her something. Lilie confirms she wants to talk about something that for her will happen in the future, but for Sakura it has already happened. Sakura is unstoppable with her questions (good!) and asks Lilie if she can see the future, to which she replies that yes, she can see the future in her dreams exactly like Sakura. "I can see what will happen just moments from now...what will happen long in the future...and even...what will happen after I've passed on". And here came the other punch in the stomach for me. Because Lilie's expression here is really, really painful. I think I'll do a separate post with all my thoughts on Lilie triggered by this chapter, so maybe check it out later if you're curious.

That's who I am

Sakura asks "Isn't it painful to know plenty of the future ahead?" and Lilie's sorrowful smile is already enough of an answer. But she goes on,

"the things I can do...and even those I can't...make me the person that I am"

I found that extremely beautiful. It is painful, yes, but that's part of herself too. And Lilie seems to be very accepting of her nature and her "gift", as well as her limits. Maybe that's why she's able to remain so positive and strong even in a very difficult situation like hers.

The moment is solemn. Lilie says (lit., JP): "Kinomoto Sakura. Your memories and records have been rewritten". Here the ENG replaced "records" with "life", probably because it doesn't make much sense to include "records" just like that. The Spanish version translated it as something like "(your memories) and the records that keep track of them", and I think that works very well. Sakura is shocked upon hearing that. Lilie here talks in future tense because this is something that for her will happen in the future: "That boy...will lie and tell the guardian of the book, who will one day be named Momo, that his goal is to exchange you with the other Alice". And why will he do that? Apparently, because in this way he won't make Momo think or have any suspicion that he will be the actual target of the exchange magic for the artifact that was inside Akiho. (JP) "Because Momo knows painfully well what will happen if that boy becomes the target, in the state he'll be in at the moment of the exchange". I'm a bit butthurt they removed that "painfully" and went for "all too well", because in the original JP text Lilie uses 痛い程 and its literal translation is "to the point of hurting". And I think that's perfect to describe Momo's feelings. Momo cares about Kaito, a whole lot. And she would've never agreed to a goal like this, endangering his life in that way and ending up carelessly triggering the Seal of D. And this is precisely the reason why Kaito lied to her. Because he knows that. He knows she's a "kind and a bit stubborn" creature. And her kindness towards him would've lead her to stop him, something he couldn't really afford.

Lilie can't help but muttering "blockhead". Yeah, in Japanese it's the same わからずや "insult" that Momo used at the end of chapter 70, precisely as he was disappearing engulfed by the artifact book. (And the ENG should've kept the translation of that term consistent between the two chapters, which was "dolt" in chapter 70 and turned into "hardheaded" in chapter 72). This made me wonder whether Lilie was the first one using that term for him, and so Momo took it after her, or if she simply saw that moment in a dream of the future, and quoted Momo's words. One thing is for sure, the JP fandom used that terms quite a lot after reading chapter 70. 😂 Lilie continues saying (still in future tense) that Momo will want Sakura to stop the forbidden magic, so she will give her a hint, but that will end up being incorrect, precisely because Kaito will lie about his real plan. So, what does this translates to, for us readers? When we were thinking that Kaito wanted to exchange the girls, we weren't completely wrong. Or, rather, we weren't lead to that theory without good foundations. It's just that Kaito lied to Momo and made things seem that way on purpose, so his real goal would've come out only at the last moment, the moment of activation of the forbidden magic. When Momo couldn't do anything about it anymore. He really mislead all of us. Because he wanted things to go this way so badly. Because he wanted to be the one to take into himself the thing he inavertedly caused Akiho to be engraved with, and which was about to kill her soul. I sense a profound, desperate sense of guilt from this. It's no wonder Momo was so mad and ended up crying, at the end of Chapter 70. She did what she could to protect "her children", but she ended up losing one anyway. Because, just like in the most common relationship between a teenager and their parental figure, he deceived her and still had it his way, stubborn and oblivious to how much suffering he would've caused to the people who loved him the most. No wonder CLAMP called him more than once "immature" in their Twitter Spaces. This is the reason why I see Momo as a strong parental figure for both Akiho, but mainly for Kaito too.

What is happiness to you?

So Momo's hint ended up being incorrect (remember the "world where no one remembered Sakura"?). But Lilie says "But even so, it's still the same. What's happiness to you?" Because, as Lilie says, the answer is the same even for the other Alice by Sakura's side. And in this very important moment, there's another difference in translation.

ENG: "Even if it makes someone else happy...imagine living in a world where the people you held most dear are gone. Could you call that happiness?"

JP: "Even if someone told you that's happiness/even if someone told you they're happy like this, can you really call it happiness if they live in a world where they lost what they didn't want to lose?"

It's painfully clear what Lilie is meaning here. Even if Akiho looks (and maybe even affirms to be) happy and cherished in this new arranged world with her memories rewritten, can she really say to be happy if the ONE thing she didn't want to lose the most....is gone? Sakura thinks hard about that. Even if Lilie doesn't mention names specifically. And just as she's thinking hard about the answer, the dream starts to crack. Sakura is about to wake up and Lilie knows it. (JP) "I come from a time where the forbidden magic can't reach. But you're right within its range. Once you wake up from this dream, I guess you will forget about meeting me. But, you have the magic that you've been preparing yourself. You just need to realize about it. I believe...in the two Alice"

And just like that, Sakura wakes up in Syaoran's arms, on the floor of the school grounds. Syaoran is visibly stressed and nervous, so much that when Sakura wakes up with a "Oh..." he goes "Don't "oh" me! You suddenly fainted!!" 😂 although this is a tense moment, I laughed at this scene because the stressful moment made some of the old, "rude" Syaoran come back 😂yes, there isn't any translation mistake this time around. The nervousness made Syaoran a bit snappy with Sakura 😆 Sakura, still in his arms (kyaaa), says that she had a dream, and she had the impression Akiho appeared in it. Syaoran helps her standing up, trying to defuse the situation joking that "that's what they call a sister complex, Sakura", and that Tomoyo told him about this term 😂😂(I've already seen some of my Japanese mutuals on Twitter saying Tomoyo teaches Syaoran stuff she shouldn't teach him 😆) Sakura doesn't really answer the joke, as she's still quite dizzy and confused by the dream. Syaoran goes back to be serious, seeing her like that, and asks if she's ok. Sakura says she is, but she holds her head almost as if she had a headache, so Syaoran asks her if she had a premonitory dream. Sakura isn't sure, you can really see she's trying hard to remember the content of the dream, but she just can't. Although, there's one thing she remembers. That this was a dream telling her something very important, both for her, and for everyone else.

And this, dear readers, is where chapter 72 leaves us, ready to advance the plot once again in the next chapter. As I said in the beginning, this chapter was short but finally explained some important things that were torturing us ever since the beginning. But not only: the just released volume 14 featured a change of script in chapter 70, when Momo is talking to Kaito after the forbidden magic was activated. Instead of asking him "what about you?", she tells him "You even lied to me, the guardian of the book, about the subject of the rewriting" which is directly connected to what Lilie said in this chapter. It was a "last minute change" (that normally happens between the Nakayoshi version and the tankobon version) probably to justify better why we were lead to believe that Kaito wanted to exchange the two girls (and thus not giving the impression CLAMP were playing us for fools completely). Moreover, it sounded strange that Momo would've let Kaito go on with his plan if she knew he would've ended up triggering the Seal of D. It looked pretty OOC for her, so maybe Ohkawa wanted to fix that. I was a bit confused by this change in the beginning, but now I completely understand why she did it.

Furthermore, there's the mention of the "magic Sakura has been preparing" that really intrigued me. Is this about the usual "zettai daijoubu da yo", or is it something more complex? Could Sakura have been preparing a spell that would activate in a certain circumstance before the play happened, in case she needed it later? Of course her memories now have been rewritten, but Lilie's words suggest that she will soon remember about preparing this magic. And I'm super excited to find out what it is. It would give Sakura a really good development, and show she can be planning things too!

At the end of the chapter, Sakura forgets about meeting Lilie. And while that might seem as once again an unnecessary stepback, I don't really think it is. If this was played in this way to give Akiho the agency she needs later, then it makes a lot of sense. Especially when many of us are hoping to see her remembering about Kaito on her own. Because it would be particularly significant. If Sakura remembered this meeting, and the fact that their memories had been rewritten, and about "Momo" and "that boy" who lied about exchanging them, logically the first thing she would do is to inform Akiho about it. But is this how things are supposed to go? Is this how Akiho is supposed to find out a truth that concerns her very closely? If Akiho is meant to remember Kaito on her own, because the void he left in her life will soon feel larger and larger, suggesting her that she's not truly happy and that something/someone is missing, then it makes sense for the narrative to hold things back for a short while. Sakura can always remember about this meeting on her own later on, thanks to her magic. While Akiho will work hard to grasp the true happiness she wants, with the help of the people who care about her. And I suspect that might happen as soon as next chapter. And then it'll be time to understand what to do to bring Kaito back, or to reach him where he is.

While here we keep praying hard for a happy ending in the manga, in the meantime I bask in the happiness of the freshly announced sequel of the Clear Card anime!!

Next release dates for what concerns chapter 73:

April 30th, on CLAMP’s Youtube channel (digital, JP and other languages) May 2nd, on Nakayoshi (paper and digital, JP)

Kodansha announced for May 10th the launch of a new simulpub platform directly managed by them (K-Manga), where it's very likely it'll be possible to read Clear Card in English digitally and simultaneously with the Japanese release. Although, that service will work only in the US (for the moment).

Alright, see you at the end of this month!! 😉

#card captor sakura #cardcaptor sakura #ccsakura #ccs spoilers #clear card arc #kinomoto sakura #lilie (cardcaptor Sakura)#chapter 72 #translation differences

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chenfordsbby · 11 months

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"The Roundup"

Season 1 Episode 5: “The Roundup”

“Nolan, the rookies and their training officers get involved in a competition that pits them against each other; officer Lucy Chen notices officer Tim Bradford is obsessed with winning at all costs”

Original Air Date: November 20th, 2018

Directed By: Nelson McCormick

Written By: Elizabeth Beall

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A new episode! Im ready to get right into it!! This was a fun episode to do!!!!

The episode starts with our favorite trio out in the field, at some type of fair/event and we are introduced to a new Lucy hairstyle, her iconic braided buns and it is one of my favorite ones. There is visible tension between John and Lucy as they are freshly broken up, but that tension is oblivious to Jackson as he isn’t picking up on it, like at all. The break-up is one that was for the better but seeing John being all mopey as he is literally a grown man is an ick. Like get it together man! It doesn’t help with his longing pining as he overlooks Lucy talking to a firefighter, Antonio, who is by far better suited for her, mainly in the age range.

The premise of this show is about an older than average guy joining the police academy so it is to be expected that this first season would primarily revolve around John. I appreciate how he can be the hero and the comedic relief at the same time. For all the times he isn’t our favorite, we have to give credit where credit is due. John has some of the best one-liners and funny bits, that we have seen from everybody! I like that for him. On the complete opposite spectrum, he also shows heroic acts. I don’t know what made him wander into the side yard by those kids to quickly rush into the back yard, but thankful he did because he rescued the little boy who fell into the pool.

We have the introduction of a new character, John’s friend, Ben, who is also the owner of the house that John has been staying in. I mean, lets be real, did any of us think that house actually belonged to John!

In the roll call room, spirits are high as everyone knows what day it is: Roundup Day! I think this is the first time since episode 1, we’ve seen Tim excited and with a smile on his face. Angela and Jackson are just as excited and ready for this competition day. The rules are explained and the game is on.

We have not seen any previous Roundup days, but we know that Tim hasn’t lost in the past 5 years and he wants to continue his streak, so he makes sure that doesn’t happen. Enter Nell, another new character we are introduced to this episode. She is the precincts 9-1-1 dispatcher and Tim knows how to woo her to get what he wants: the first one she calls for any incoming calls and she does exactly that.

Angela and Jackson are returning to the precinct booking 2 felons before Tim and Lucy have even left the station…let the games begin.

Jackson and Angela respond to a call for a wellness check for a hospital disappearance. After checking in on the elderly gentleman, Mr. Walker, Jackson was too quick to dismiss the call and leaver after speaking to him where as Angela knows. She tells Jackson there’s something up with Mr. Walker and wander around to the side of the house and they witness him with a bag full of stolen drugs. Angela knows the signs and what to look for, that’s not say Jackson won’t, he will, he just needs to learn them through his training.

John is itching to get in on this game, so he makes the executive decision to enter into it himself but only after getting highly annoyed by firefighter Antonio who asks him about Lucy. I mean, you can’t fault the guy, he is young and Lucy is pretty.

Side Note: My fellow One Tree Hill fans!!! Skills!!!!! I love seeing other favorite actors on different shows!

Back in the “7-Adam-19” shop, Lucy initiates, or at least tries too, a personal conversation with Tim about Nell. He quickly shuts it down with his infamous, “I’m married, Officer Chen and this isn’t something you and I talk about”. (Again, I’m trying so hard to act as if I haven’t watched any other episodes/seasons but little does Tim know….) Stoic, emotionless Tim is activated as he tells her to keep her eyes out for the DUI suspect, much to Lucy’s dismay, as I think she’s just whole heartedly trying to get to know Tim, with no other ulterior motives, and he isn’t being receptive towards it. They come up on the DUI suspect and Lucy is taken aback with Tim as he is reading him his Miranda rights as well as demanding a blood sample while basically bleeding out before the ambulance takes him away. Lucy is associating the DUI suspect as a human who was severely injured and not as a drunk driver who possibly killed a child and committed a serious crime. I think this is where we start to see her empathy start to show. No matter TIm’s feelings or not towards this suspect, he’s being a police officer. He needs to demand and obtain the blood sample before its too late for the drivers victim or else it will all be for nothing. Lucy will eventually learn that.

In the shop again, Lucy is clearly annoyed with Tim after his behavior and actions with the DUI suspect. Tim picks up on it as well based on her attitude towards him that she isn’t happy, but he explains it needed to happen. Her annoyance continues as she thinks he seems more interested in racking up points on the scoreboard than prioritizing the arrests of the bank robbers in front of them, which is not the case per Tim, because he can do both! Tim is smarter than them, as he proves it when he pepper sprays them out of the money truck. As good as Lucy is, her methods of policing still reflect naively. Lucy would’ve just waited around for back up if it weren’t for Tims quick thinking methods and they both gain points making 2 more arrests. Let us all just very much appreciate the bickering of Tim and Lucy literally bickering like an old married couple so early on, and it is only the beginning of this beautiful relationship!

It’s a nice sight to see Captain Anderson again!

Getting closer to the end of the episode, is usually when all of the separate storylines wrap up and merge into one larger one, as we see visible when John, Talia, Tim and Lucy come together to take down these Mob bosses. I don’t think Lucy meant to trip and fall, but it helped with all of the arrests, so Go Lucy!! It seems to be a trend, but I like this way of ending episodes, with some, if not all of the characters working together to achieve the common goal!! A great way to include the entire ensemble!

This is the first time we really see Lucy interact with Angela and again with Talia. So far, we’ve only really seen her mainly with Jackson and John, personally and Tim, professionally. Lucy overhears the girls trying to decide what to do with their own points and how to divvy them up and when she puts things together, she realizes that they are doing it all in the sake for Tim so he can win. It’s brought full circle because of Isabel. Tim and Isabel used to excel as partners in the Roundup, so of course this would be a sensitive day for Tim. Angela and Talia were witnesses to those years prior and know how different this year looks so they need to too this for him. Lucy took note how much this competition means to Tim but Talia and Angela knew the importance and meaning all along.

Angela announces Tim and Lucy as the winners, now 6 years for Tim and the first for Lucy and Tim is thrilled. He remains the reigning champion, yes, it probably boosts his ego a little, but at the end of the day, he needed to win it for his own mental health. A reminder of what was once good between the relationship that once was with him and Isabel.

Jackson is still struggling with, I suppose, his self worth of being a cop. He knows that he got to where he is at because of his dad, but Angela encourages him to prove where he can go in spite of his dad. I love that for them. This friendship is quickly growing on me!

John and Lucy still seemingly pining for each other is becoming old quick. It is clear as day that Lucy is so far out of Johns league. She doesn’t need him and she really never did. I think the relationship started out of convenience and maybe even boredom while in the academy. At this point, just be done, and move on.

The episode ends with John (of course) and his friend Ben, who may be the best thing that The Rookie introduced us to so far. Ben and his wise words is what John needs to hear: maybe its time for him to be alone for a while and see where that gets him….only time and watching more episodes will tell!

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Honorable Mention: Lucy’s Braids! I wish they kept this hairstyle longer!

Episode Peak: Tim winning The Roundup.

Episode Pit: There really wasn’t anything that bad in this episode, so none for this week!

Quote of the Episode: “We’re not robots, Officer Nolan. We all have our bad days but our bad days pale in comparison to the people we meet” - Talia Bishop

Episode Rating: 8/10. This episode was a quick and easy watch. Nothing too major happening but not too slow either. We got some solid baby Chenford crumbs in it as well! I liked it!

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I decided to start adding pictures throughout the blog! I'm thinking it add a little extra spice to it!

Another one down! I definitely took a different approach to this recap, I don’t know why, it just felt way better to recap it in episode order, rather than by the parings and relationships. I guess it will all depend on the episodes for my blog style, but I am not minding it! They are also getting way easier and more fun to do! 5 down, 15 to go for season 1! My god I am flying through these!! This one also is probably my shortest review but that’s okay!! They all don’t have to be super long!!!

Until next time in “Get in the Shop”… ;)

#The Rookie #1x05 #The Roundup #Tim Bradford #Lucy Chen #John Nolan #Talia Bishop #Angela Lopez #Jackson West #Melissa O'Neil #Eric Winter #Get in the Shop: the rookie re-cap blog #Chenford #The Rookie 1 x 05 #Tim x Lucy #Lucy x Tim #I love doing this so much #I can't wait to hear thoughts on this episode #thank you for continuing to stick around

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yupuffin · 13 days

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Quick series of fact checks on that "Miku Expo = dashcon" post, by an attendee who has been to at least one show in every Miku Expo in North America tour since 2014, because OP made a post rife with misleading and false information and then restricted replies which is not a good look

-- "tickets were more expensive/charged people for projectors/tickets used to be at most $160" Not sure where they are getting these stats. My ticket was the same price as it has been all previous years, if not CHEAPER. OP cites $300 as the cheapest ticket for this year, which is blatantly false as my ticket was not nearly that much. (My VIP ticket in LA 2014 was definitely that much, though, so the claim that previous shows were "at most 160" is blatantly false)

--"banned glowsticks and upcharged ... their own" Chemical glowsticks shorter than 6" are still allowed, as has been standard with all previous Miku Expo shows in other years. Miku Expo merch has never been cheap. Pretty sure the glowsticks this year were the same price as always as I bought a set in ... 2016, I wanna say?

--rumors such as 'stolen cutout'/piss on floor/car crash in San Jose Can't comment on these as they are instance-specific and completely unrelated to the organizers. I recall hearing rumors about issues with staff employed by the specific venue due to lack of communication but nothing that I can personally confirm and nothing that would have been under control of the event organizers. Comment about 'unlicensed merch' indeed seems to point to venue staff rather than expo organizers

--'hologram technology not particularly complicated' Yes, you can make similar shows in your bedroom with similar technology (MMD with scrim). No, they're not on anywhere near the same scale as Miku Expo live concerts. In particular, the glass screen that utilizes the projectors (which has always been two-dimensional, by the way. so anyone who complains that this Miku "isn't a hologram" just... doesn't understand that Miku has never been a hologram, I guess?? This also makes the 'fans are disappointed because miku is 2D' headline VERY MISLEADING.) in the previous shows has a specific shape to make it look good from some angles, but it's VERY vulnerable to visual distortion when viewed from other, more extreme angles (from way off to the side, or right beneath it in the very front) as well as the problem of reflecting the lights from most glowsticks to some degree. The LCD screen used in the ongoing North America tour has neither of these problems. I can't speak to how complicated the specific setup is for the ongoing tour, but when you look at the show dates and how far apart the venues are, they don't leave a lot of wiggle room for... any kind of setup, even a simple one. (The San Jose show, for example, was only two days after the Portland show, despite the two cities being at least a ten-hour drive apart. No wonder they purportedly have a different band for each location)

--'this is the first time miku expo has been so bad' Nope. As mentioned above, I've been to at least one show in each Miku Expo North America tour since they started in 2014. I can guarantee you every previous show was not without its issues, either. In LA in 2014, the expo included daytime activities other than the concert and was hosted at an outdoor venue in the sun... with no drinking water available until the second day. Seattle in 2016 definitely also had miscommunication issues with the event organizers versus the venue staff. Can't remember 2018 well enough to comment.

--vocalo-ps are mad because this undermines their capitalistic interests Just... no?? Vocaloid producers are not major corporate entities who make a lot of money like a lot of mainstream producers. (Neither is Crypton Future Media, Miku's parent company, for that matter, but we'll address that in a little bit.) The vast majority are hobbyists and make little to no money. Those who profit from it at all are largely indie producers, some of whom retired from mainstream music production specifically to become indie vocalo-ps because they didn't want to deal with capitalist bs. (the reverse is also true in a few cases though) Vocalo-Ps aren't mad for reasons stated in the original post; they're mad because the overseas uproar is based largely on the assumption that, since Miku is obviously so popular, Crypton is a megacorporation that brings in tons of money and hence is in full control over... (vague hand gestures) all the issues outlined in the post. It really isn't. It has a grand total of 130 employees in an office in Sapporo. There's reasons they had to "crowdfund out the ass" for the online concerts during the pandemic and partner with Crunchyroll for the ongoing tour. That's why Vocalo-Ps are mad. Wouldn't be surprised if most of the issues that people are mad at could actually be traced back to crunchyroll tbh because they were apparently responsible for stuff like which venues were booked and when (which are just one of many issues that could be addressed aside from...)

--the whole thing with the screen??? I'm gonna be super honest with you. I'm in the minority here but I CANNOT understand why everyone is so mad about the screen? They make it sound like it looks SO bad but... it really isn't. (And as mentioned above, the presence of the LCD screen fixes a lot of issues that the glass screen has, so it's not without its perks.) It wouldn't have even occurred to me as an attendee of several previous miku expos that the screen was different if there hadn't been such a weirdly entitled uproar about it. So the fact that most of the words in the post and so much of the 'outcry' is about THE SCREEN when there are so many other logistical issues behind the concerts that could be addressed that are arguably more important than the type of screen they used baffles me, honestly. I could not describe this issue to my coworkers in a way that didn't make them think Vocaloid fans need to go touch grass which I think says something

People can try to sue crunchyroll over... whatever but I really don't think there's a basis for it??? I think this tour is not without its screwups and i'm conjecturing based on the evidence i have that most of them can be traced back to crunchyroll specifically but very likely NOT crypton or the individual vocalo-ps which... op seems very intent on villainizing for some reason.

#soliloqyu #SIGH. i'm tired and it's past my bedtime #why must people dispense so much misinformation for internet clout or at the very least reblogs

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