I think that we, as a society, moved on too quickly from that scene in Tangled where Eugene and Rapunzel are waiting for the lanterns and he holds flowers for her to place on the water surface.
The silent beauty of this scene is so poetic.
They're not talking about important stuff for the plot. They're just enjoying each others' company in such a simple way. No need for talking. He's looking at Rapunzel and sees how she's living the moment, not afraid of being outside, not worried about her mother anymore or what will come next.
And can I imagine those flowers were picked by Eugene from her braid? To show that Rapunzel is comfortable with him touching her hair since she knows he's not interested in her because of it.
The women take Maddie to a bar (not The Last Drop) and Babette tells her that they once knew Derek, the guy whose name Maddie was screaming. They were also close with his girlfriend: Honey. . .
She was called that because of her sweet personality and for the color of her eyes. When Honey was younger, she fell in love with a guy who promised her they'd soon get married and raise their child together. But then the bastard took what little money Honey's parents left her, abbandoning her and their baby daughter. To feed her child, Honey began to work for the brothel where the three women already offered their services at the time. Two of them quickly became Honey's friends. The third one many years later still felt resentment towards her, because Derek only had eyes for Honey.
When Derek came into Honey's life, her child was already 12 years old. He was a Piltovers's Sewer Maintenance Plumber, but obviously the people up there didn't care about who fixes their exhaust pipes. Initially Derek was hesitant to start a relationship with Honey because she had a kid. With time, he became the father figure that child never had before. And then Derek and Honey had another girl. Despite their conditions, they were a happy family. But since fate is a traitorous lover, Honey got sick after her second child was born, and they couldn't affort the expensive medicines that were impossible to find in the undercity anyway. Last time Honey's friends saw Derek, he went to look for his eldest daughter. He feared the girl had made her mind that she could save her mother by stealing the medicines from the pilties. . .
Everything starts coming together to Maddie. Late at night, when the bar is about to close, Maddie stands on the door, looking up, reflecting on all the things she learned. Babette joins her to light herself a sigarette. She lets Maddie she figured out she's Honey's lost daughter and Maddie doesn't deny nor confirm this. Babette takes something from her dress, to hand it to the young woman: it's the key to the Derek and Honey's old home.
Apon discovering that the man who was wrongly encarcerated for her attempted kidnapping possibly knew her mother, Maddie decides to go talk with him. She goes to Stillwater, lying to the warden about her visit being an order from her commander, Caitlyn Kiramman. He informs Maddie that she's about five years late to interrogate the prisoner -whose name was Derek- because he died during his escape plan: he built a rudimental raft to help him reach the land, but the guards shot the thing as they tried to stop him and it sank. Derek was pushed away by the stream and his body was never found.
Determinate to find the truth anyway, Maddie asks to check the prisoner's personal effects kept in a room with all the evidence of the open or unsolved cases. Searching among hundreds of boxes, she gets her hands the one with Derek's name that only contains his civillian clothes, including the long jacket that Maddie partially remembers from the festival. In its pockets, Maddie finds an empthy cigarettes package with a note inside that says "do it for them" that has the doodled faces of two children, an intact pack of matches and a small origami of a frog. Seeing that frog makes blurry images flash before Maddie's eyes. She sees her own small hands folding papers to make more animal origamis in a room that feels strangely familiar.
On the side of the matches pack, Maddie notices a particular symbol. To find out what it means, she goes to ask different prisoners, remaining at the other side of their cells. The prisoners either ignore her or cuss her out, until she comes across the cell of a thin guy with slick hair that claims to know where that symbol is from. But he wants something in return for that information. Instead of giving in, Maddie rips the sleeve of her uniform and threatens to call the guards on the prisoner for trying to harm her if he doesn't tell her what she wants to know.
Got the answer she needs, Maddie dresses up as what she believes a woman from Zaun would wear and goes on a solo mission to find more out about Derek and, hopefuly, her mother. Maddie naturally feels weird about walking down the streets of Zaun without her uniform. She's also worried that someone might recognize her as one of the Enforcers who were terrorizing the locals with the Grey just a few days before.
After walking for a little while, Maddie finds a brothel that has on the door the same symbol from the matches, just like that prisoner told her. All the clients are too "busy" to notice her. But when one of the bouncer sees Maddie, he doesn't fall for her akward flirt, therefore she knees him in the scrotum and tries to hide from him. She's caught by another bouncer and while she gets dragged out of that place, she screams Derek's name, getting someone's attention. The bouncer pushes Maddie on the mud outside and tells her to never show her face again. Maddie sees herself on the dirty water that has washed off some of her make up. She slaps her reflection out of anger, because she doesn't know what to do next. At that point Babette and two other women who work in the brothel walk up to her. Babette even offers Maddie a hand to stand up.
Arcane×The Prince of Egypt AU idea where Felicia puts baby Powder in a basket that lets her cross the river that devides Zaun and Piltover, only for the child to be found by Caitlyn's dad and adopted into their family. Caitlyn and Powder grow up as sisters in Piltover, where the latter is completely unaware of the horrors commited by the Enforcers towards her people, until one day she helps Ekko avoid an arrest and casually reunites with Vi, Mylo and Claggor.
Powder confronts Cassandra about the things they have done to the undercity, and after accidentally killing an Enforcer that was mistreating a Zaunite, she runs away from home. While hiding in Zaun, Powder meets Ekko again and decides to settle with him and the Firelights. At some point she has an accident that almost causes her to dird, but she is "saved" by Silco or Singed with Shimmer (an un-holy version of the scene where Moses meets God).
Jinx (the name she choses after the accident) returns to Piltover with her allies, to convince Caitlyn to help stop the oppressive system promoted by the Council, since Cait has become the city's chief. But just like Ramses, Caitlyn instead decides to double down. Therefore Jinx has to take matters in her own hands, using her inventions to punish Piltover with the "plagues", the last one consisting in the attack of the Council that leads to Cassandra's death.
After Amelia's death, Maddie only had Mr Nolan to consider her family, and that wasn't a very comforting thing. Because unlike her grandmother, who constantly showered Maddie with genuine love and admiration, her father was never that affectionate towards her. Even when she was younger, Mr Nolan treated Maddie like a guest in his own house that he barely spoke to, unless it was necessary, despite Maddie doing everything in her power to make him proud.
That day, wearing her brand-new uniform, Maddie returns to the nice appartament where she lived for almost ten years with her adoptive family. She knocks on the door and waits, standing like a good soldier. Her dad slightly opens the door to take a peek outside. Maddie hopes that he'll be happy to see her in an Enforcer uniform for the first time. Instead he looks disappointed because he believed she was finally out of his life. Surprisely, he lets her in anyway. With a crutch that helps him walk after losing part of his right leg on the job, Mr Nolan goes to the kitchen, knocking down a couple of emphty liquor bottles on the way, and asks Maddie if she needs something. Short talk, no eye-contact. As always.
Maddie starts a one-way conversation, informing her father that she joined an elite group for a special mission in Zaun, trying to get his curiosity. Instead he just congratulates with her in a cold way. Maddie finally abbandons her composed stance. With an unintentional tick of her face, her silly, joyfull expression turns into a frawn and she lets out an annoyed sigh. She questions why her dad still treats her like an outsider after all that time. The man snaps and argues that he wasn't the one who wanted her, but he adopted her despite knowing she wasn't like them. Maddie asks what he means with that and Mr Nolan starts reminishing of an episode that occurred three weeks after Maddie went to live with his family. . .
She was given more socially acceptable clothes for a girl from Piltover, and got bangs to hide the scar on her forehead, so that nobody would question how she got it. Maddie, Mr Nolan and Amalia went to a city festival that had cotton-candy, rides for children and stalls with prizes. During this fun event -the first one Maddie ever experienced- she was left unattended for just a moment. A stranger in a long green jacket approached her while he was hiding in the shadows of a stall and motioned her to come to him, holding out his hand for her. Thinking he had bad intentions, Maddie pretended not to hear him. She attempts to walk away, but the guy quickly grabbed her wrist without using too much strenght. Naturally Maddie started calling for help. Two of her father's colleagues that were allerted by her screams saw the man trying to take Maddie away. As there's to expect from top-siders, they brutally forced him to get on ground before he was taken away. . .
Mr Nolan explains to Maddie that during his interrogation, the man in the green jacket swore to personally knowing her, and that he was trying to take her back to her mother. Officer Nolan considered letting Maddie go with him, but Amalia begged her son to keep the girl with them since he never got married or gave her any grandchildren. To make his mother happy, Mr Nolan got rid of the bag Maddie had when the carriage hit her, destroyed the real documents with the confession of the arrested suspect and sent him to prison with the accuse of attempted kidnapping. After learning all of that, Maddie leaves the appartament without saying a word. Her shocked expression already says everything.
I used to think that losing a home was the hardest thing that could happen.
But what I’ve learned is that the hardest part comes after — trying to rebuild your life while carrying the weight of everything you lost 💔
Every day, I try to focus on the future. On my education, on my family, on the hope that one day things will feel stable again. But hope becomes difficult to hold onto when every step forward feels uncertain.
This campaign is not just helping us financially. It’s helping us believe that our future is still worth fighting for.
If you’re reading this, thank you for taking a moment to see the person behind the fundraiser. Your support, your kindness, and even sharing our story can make a bigger difference than you might imagine 🤍🙏
Maddie's first memory of Piltover begins with her waking up in a nice room for four in a pediatric hospital. She's laying on a soft bed, with bandages wrapped around her head; a side of her forehead iches for some reason. Despite that new enviroment, she feels strangely safe. She smells something nice and turns her head to the closest drawer to see the plate with a fresh-out-of-hoven croissant, a glass of juice and a bowl of diced fruid. Maddie quickly grabbs the plate, to not be noticed by the other young patiences and their relatives.
When she starts to devour the croissant, a doctor walks up to her, with an elderly lady alonside. He asks the girl how she's doing. Maddie looks worried for a moment, but the nice lady reassures the food is for her. While Maddie finishes eating, the doctor explains that he had to put stitches on her forehead to close a wound that most likely will leave a permanent scar. Apparently Maddie ran in the middle of the street without looking first, and the carriage where the lady was travelling on hit her, causing the girl to pass out. The doctor asks for the girl's name and where they can find her parents, to inform them of the accident. Maddie focuses, but she doesn't remember anything about herself.
She innocently asks if she can have more juice. The doctor replies that he'll tell the nurse to bring her more, then he leads the elderly lady that took Maddie to the hospital outside the room, so they can talk privately. They conclude that the accident gave Maddie amnesia, that's why she can't even remember her name. The man suspects that she might be from Zaun, for the conditions of her clothes and because she seems malnutritioned. The doctor suggests to check the bag Maddie had with her when the carriage hit her, but the lady states that her son is an Enforcer, therefore he can take care of the situation, find the girl's parents and reunite her with them.
The lady returns to Maddie, this time on her own, and she sits on a chair next to her bed. At that point the girl gives her a modest present: a flower origami made with the napkin that came with the plate. After thanking her for the present, the lady introduces herself as Amalia Nolan. Since they don't know where Maddie's family is, Amalia says she would be more than happy to welcome the girl in her home, for as long as it's going to take to find her relatives.
Turns out that Maddie never left the Nolans' home ever since the woman who "found" her let her to stay. Maddie officially joined their family, got her former name and Enforcer Nolan became her adoptive father.
Balter is requested to return to his homeplanet -Piscciss- because his father is suspected of wanting to start a revolution against the former ruler. Salis, Balter's dad, used to be a royal guard and he's also responsable for the murder of the previous king, almost 16 years before.
Jayden, Gavin and Emilia accompany Balter. This is when Gavin and Emilia learn that Salis had a relationship with former queen Nori, before her arranged marriage with (at the time) prince Listo. Therefore Balter is the first born of the queen, but he's not an heir to the throne. That's his half-brother, prince Kame.
In secret, Listo sends Balter to find Salis and take him out once and for all. Meanwhile Jayden, Emilia and Gavin stay at the castle. Queen Nori helps them descover that in the prisons there's a man, who was chosen by the previous king to bring democracy to Piscciss, and the revolution is actually meant to prevent Listo from starting a war with another planet. At the same time, Balter learns that his dad was forced to kill the old king by Listo, or else he would have killed his child.
To save his people and his friends, Balter joins his dad's army for the great battle against Listo' soldiers. Unfortunately during a 1vs1 with the king, Balter gets his face bitten and loses an eye. Even so, with the help of his dad and Jayden, Balter kills Listo. To prevent his son from being persecuted by Listo's followers, Salis takes the blame. Nori choses to stay with Kame, to prevent him for becoming like his dad. Balter is brought back to Earth, to be cured, and thanks to Emilia's father, he recives a new robotic eye.
Emilia and Josie are deeply upset by the news that the voice actress of the main character of Starlight Spy has passed away. They conclude that they must keep on her legacy, by bringing to life her character, Rea. Therefore Emilia fixes a broken animatronic from an old pizza restaurant and creates a sophisticated brain to insert into the robot's head. Then Josie modifies a cosplay of hers to dress Rea, styles a wig for her hair and follows a make-up totarial to make the robot look exactly like the character.
Luiz, Emilia's oldest brother, lectures the girls about how wrong it is to make a machine believe it's a real person, but they don't listen to him. Once Josie and Emilia make friends with Rea and see that she's not exactly like her fictional counterpart, they realize that Luiz was right.
When Rea understands she's just a copy of a cartoon character, she runs away from the lab, accidentally causing a car-crash that starts a fire on the highway. With her suit, Emilia saves as many people as possible. Rea wants to help her, but Josie begs her to stay, reminishing the day her mother died on her job as a firefighter. Rea still goes to rescue people. Unfortunately she doesn't make it out of there "alive" .
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