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lizzybeth1986 · 5 years

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Quick Thoughts on TRH Book 1 Chapter 7

• More YEEHAW with a dash of bachelorette action, a sprinkle of rollin'-in-the-hay (literally) and one big dollop of "oh we're poor" to set up for next week's chapter.

• Screenshot credits:

Hana: @pixieferry

Drake: @thefirstcourtesan and BizzysChoices YouTube channel (@thefirstcourtesan also sent screenshots for Penelope's dancing scene from her Liam MC playthrough).

Maxwell: @thethots-plicken

• These are the tags you can block if you don’t want to see these posts: #long post, #trh quick thoughts, #trh qts, #trh qt reblogs.

• This is the only chapter that could potentially have no men in it, and you deliberately force the focus away from Hana? Now if that doesn't sound like the TRR writing team then I don't know what does.

• Why is Madeleine here? Go climb a pine tree in Fydelia or something.

• If you're going to give Drake a whole extended family, PB, at least get the family straight? Who is Leona, is she Bianca's sister? Jackson's sister? WHOSE SISTER IS SHE.

• Title: A Night Out In the Town

Alternative Title: The Mandatory Annual Courtly Maidens Meetup

Alternative to the Alternative Title: Hana Lee and the Audacity of this Bitch

(you know which one)

• This chapter works mostly for the nostalgia factor. There's plenty of it in these scenes.

• Bachelor parties and bachelorettes have pretty much been a long-standing tradition in TRR - there's always going to be that one chapter where someone gets a sendoff via a wild party (exactly how wild really depends on whoever is throwing it). The MC meets most of the original gang (except Hana) at Liam's bachelor party, and there have been at least 5 bachelor/bachelorette parties in the series so far (counting this one). I won't be surprised if they gave Penelope a dude in TRR Book 3 just for the express purpose of having another excuse to have another bachelorette party next book.

• The one really good thing about this chapter? It's that Hana will not stand for any nonsense from Madeleine:

She's not going to pretend Madeleine deserves to hold any space among her circle of friends, or even of acquaintances. She's not going to allow Madeleine to get away with not following the rules of an event she's planned, not when Madeleine failed to show the same courtesy to women in her court. If Madeleine insists on badgering the MC about her 'pregnancy', Hana is here to defend you. The message is loud and clear. This is Hana Lee's show, she is running it, and if you can't listen to what she says you can fall on a cactus.

• I only wish we were able to give her the kind of loyalty and protection from Madeleine, that Hana deserved. She did not deserve for us to allow the bullying done to her, to be brushed aside as a hazing ritual. Hell, even while knowing what Madeleine did to her, we didn't even get to check up on her.

Hana did not deserve for us to pretend that never happened to her, and she definitely did not deserve to have her own pain be treated over and over in the narrative like it didn't matter. Even now, her no-nonsense behaviour is rooted firmly in her concern for other people, like the MC and Savannah. Why can't the team ever allow Hana to do this for herself? Why can't the other characters ever step in to defend her the same way? Why am I allowed to (optionally) coddle Penelope twice in today's chapter in a way I never can for Hana?? Why should Hana always be the one protecting but hardly ever the one protected??

• So the ladies of the court have arrived, leaving a puzzled Bianca and a perpetually pissed-off Leona in their wake. Hana explains the situation: she invited Kiara, Olivia and Penelope along. Madeleine invited herself for the sole purpose of being nosy.

• ...in what universe is Madeleine a "public relations angel". Have you SEEN how badly you did your own job the last book??

• Olivia and Madeleine can't last two minutes without sniping at each other and this makes Savannah sad (not that they care, they're enjoying the back-and-forth banter) The MC elicits a promise from the two that Olivia will not stab Madeleine, and Madeleine will not "mentally and emotionally break Olivia". What's with Madeleine and constantly wanting to break people?

• Also you really think you can emotionally break Olivia??? She's from Lythikos, you pineapple!

• Hana mentions shopping to Bianca and Leona, and we have yet another hint that all is not well at the ranch.

• The ladies change at a store nearby, to outfits that suit the rustic theme for the event. Which means Savannah gets the opportunity to dress a little more glam on this day, and the ladies of the court get to dress down a bit. Well...except for Olivia, who prefers to change into her red Coronation gown. Here are the girls in order of preference:

Okay first off - I have to say this - FULL BODY SPRITES FOR THE LADIES FINALLY OMG!!! It's the first time I'm actually seeing them all like this: the last time we managed to see a change of outfits was when we had to choose their outfits for the wedding, and even then only the half-body sprites were used. The fact that we never get to see Olivia in a different outfit kind of makes me feel like they might be saving her sprite for a bigger diamond scene? Idk.

• Also how did no one either notice nor point out that Olivia was still wearing a gown?

• Hana stays in the outfit she wore the previous day, and you get to choose whether she keeps the hat or not. The denim short skirt and brown shrug is a lovely outfit on Kiara, and I like the necklace Penelope has on. I think my favourite is Savannah's? I love the rhinestones, the embellished belt, the flower design, and it's a beautiful silver colour that compliments Savannah's skin tone.

• Savannah may annoy the hell out of me but one thing you can't deny about her is she's HELLA fashionable (remember the Drake engagement scene where he says the lavender coloured dress was her choice? That dress was super pretty).

• The MC wearing gold for bachelorettes is kind of a theme with her now lol. Started with the gold theme for Madeleine's bachelorette, then a theme where she wore gold and everyone else was supposed to wear black for her own, and now every going country - but she and Savannah get to bring on the bling.

(Fun Fact: Both Madeleine's and Savannah's bachelorettes take place in Chapter 7 of their respective books, with very different outcomes)

• Our first stop after the country makeover is the bar! Which is Hana's choice, because she is the kind of lovely, wholesome human being who will fully commit to research for her friend's sister's bachelorette party.

Why are you lying Hana.

• So the MC helps Hana out first my selecting drinks. You have 5 options to choose from: beer, cocktails, champagne, one of those fire drinks, and sparkling water. Savannah is doubtful and then excited to try the fire drinks, loves fruity cocktails and enjoys the bubbly. Olivia is impressed when Savannah chugs her fire drink. Kiara is amazed at the sight of beer coming in bottles. Penelope is disappointed if we decide to order a very tame sparkling water. Madeleine raises her eyebrows if you try to take anything even remotely alcoholic because she has already decreed you pregnant.

• Next stop: dancing! You get to choose which lady you'd like to dance with, and if you're romancing Hana this opens up to a romantic scene!

Hana: is happy and enthusiastic if you're friends, whoops and giggles as you spin her. More slow dancing happening if you're married to her...definitely more romantic.

Kiara: is nervous at first because she doesn't know "the social mores of this establishment", but when the MC reassures her that no one cares, she lets go of her inhibitions and shakes her hips, enjoying herself.

Olivia: very competitive, is confident she can dance circles around the MC, starts doing martial arts instead. Savannah reminds her it's not a duel and Olivia's like "EVERYTHING'S A DUEL". I should take her to Kerala and have her learn kalaripayattu 😁 (also I'd be interested in seeing a three-way dance battle between Hana, Maxwell and Olivia plsthnx).

Savannah: Also enthusiastic and excited, v much the 'happy bride'. Both Savannah and the MC are comfortable in this setting.

Penelope: This comes with a reference to her social anxiety, because her initial nervousness has to do with the crowds. The MC makes space for her through dancing, and she winds up having fun while still feeling comfortable. Madeleine tries to make a smart-alec comment but pretty much no one gives a shit about her so it's okay.

Madeleine: does not exist.

• After this, Savannah shows the girls how to do a Texas Two-Step, which is baffling to them. Hana gets it down in like two minutes, and the MC depending on options can either do it perfectly, go off-beat then claim she created her own trend lol, or trip over herself and hurt her feet, following which Hana assumes she is doing the robot, and does it alongside her. Apparently she learned it during a summer class she took while her embroidery instructor was sick.

• I don't get it, what's with all these random embroidery references they keep throwing at Hana these days.

• Olivia and Kiki are still baffled by the two-step dance, so Savannah recommends more drinking! Madeleine and Olivia are competitive with each other and loving it, and Penelope and Kiara are confused about how they're supposed to drink tequila. The MC gets to show them how it's done. She can either do it right (pour the salt, drink the shot, suck the lime), or get it wrong (pour the shot, suck the salt, drink the lime). The highlight of this is definitely the last one (pour the salt, drink the salt, suck the salt!). Like, the MC actually tips the contents of an entire salt shaker into her mouth! Failplay MC is the very definition of chaotic energy.

• Kiki, like the awesome friend she is, asks Savannah if she'd like to flirt or do anything hot-guy-related, which Savannah laughs and refuses. The topic then comes around to her relationship with Bertrand and his insecurities regarding Chuck. She says she barely had a thing with him but she's afraid Bertrand might do something stupid (he might, actually). The MC can choose to reassure her.

• I don't get it like...okay? Why am I the one you're telling this to rather than your own fiancé? If he's the one having the insecurities, and you know they're there, what are you doing to alleviate that? I mean as far as I can see your aunt is pretty much dragging him the whole time for not magically acquiring ranch skills and I hardly see you even talking about that. I don't see you actually trying to talk to him. So why tell me all these things - go tell him and sort it out yourself.

• Because Savannah speaks about wanting a happy family in the wake of this conversation, the topic then returns to that of the MC's ongoing attempts to get pregnant.

• Madeleine is a nosy, entitled piece of shit. She just is. Raises her eyebrows at me when I'm drinking, makes terrible apple puns for a fetus that probably isn't even there yet, comes for a trip she's not even been fucking invited to so she can poke her entitled nose into my business. Even her show of 'sympathy' revolves around her and her problems. All this while she acts like a martyr for following a dress code (remember how she dragged Penelope for not getting a metallic dress on time and 'ruining' her dress code, but came to our bachelorette making excuses for not following our dress code?). I'm glad Hana was having none of it at least now.

The only differences between this scene in a Hana playthrough vs in the others is that Hana tries to get Madeleine to stop before the MC gets to give her answer ("Madeleine, please..."), and that she reacts sadly to the MC if she chooses to be openly sad about it.

• ...so the scene in the hotel in Chapter 5 (where the MC and Hana could talk about what Dr Ramirez said, if Hana was your LI) always had a "there, we spoke about it, now shut up" feel to me. Because now they've given the MC a voice regarding how she feels about this pregnancy (we can either deem it invasive, speak normally about it or be very, very sad and spill out how disappointed we are. The last option's dialogues is the one I put up).

It's surreal...to see an MC who can say this openly while Hana's condition and how it's affecting her is barely even addressed. It's even more surreal that even now we're still coddling Penelope to the high heavens, and how a lot of aggressive importance is still given to Olivia, while still ignoring what could be happening to Hana if she's married...or making even a chapter that has potentially no men in it about literally anyone but her.

• The nice thing is Savannah is quite supportive in all three options. Olivia diffuses the tension/seriousness by suggesting we have more drinks.

• Aha! Queen Amalas.

• So she claims she came down not to pressurize us into anything but to see the MC in an environment outside of the palace/estate and court, including how she behaves with other people. She has no friends but treats her servants well (and apparently tipped her waiter a thousand). But the little bits she adds in about our origins can be a little unnerving. While offering a Sarzac she mentions our home state New York and asks if we'd prefer a Manhattan, and suggests we would know about how important a good tip is since we worked as a waitress. The MC's reactions can range between friendly, curious or accusatory. Overall the general impression is that she's mysterious and alluring, but there's something about her that spells danger.

This is me rn:

• Anyway...so we leave with our drinks, and join the girls. Penelope is drunk and talking to a mechanical bull, Kiara is drunk and trying really hard to talk country to the same bull. Savannah deeply (I'm kidding) regrets not returning Kiara's kindness in teaching her French by teaching her American English, coz it would have saved her this moment of cringing in a bar rn.

• They raise a toast to either Savannah, or friendship, or "putting the past behind us". I don't want to raise a toast to any of these options.

• Savannah is emotional and speaks of how hard it was to fit in and how much she missed Cordonia and the people she knew in court when she was away bringing up Bartie, and how the MC "changed all that" (how??? Again, a lot of what she does is optional, not default! Plus a bulk of the work of finding her went to her own brother, and later a fumbling Bertrand - not the MC unless she really chose to help. My MC Esther gets these dialogues despite not bothering to help Savannah in any way) and how she is now friends with all of them.

• Diamond scene! The ladies of the court have never had sleepovers (for various reasons), so MC-who-had-a-way-more-normal-life to the rescue!

• We start off with a drink. Three are on offer and we get to choose one: Hana's special Hot Chocolate recipe ("like drinking a minty chocolaty hug"), Olivia's Lythikos Nog ("like drinking a buttery, spiced cloud") or the traditional Walker Hot Toddies from Savannah (basically hot water and whiskey made with lemon, honey and spices).

• Once that's out of the way, we start off with, as the MC calls it, "gossiping about our love lives". Penelope is asked first, and she gets to tell us about her ongoing relationship with Kiara's brother Ezekiel. Olivia is next, and depending on your choices she can openly speak about the fact that Liam didn't choose her, twice, and how she needs to move on. She can also choose not to talk about it if the MC tells the other ladies of the court to back off (which is funny, because the whole thing was her idea to begin with). There's not a lot of change to this dialogue in all the playthroughs, except for mentions of whether Liam was engaged to the MC or not.

• After this, the MC can choose to ask either Madeleine or Kiara the same question:

- Madeleine is defensive and reminds the MC that she "interfered" with her relationship status (wasn't even much of a relationship to begin with), but eventually makes it known that she doesn't believe in "sappy romance" and would rather marry to benefit her house or country instead (nice save there, PB).

- Kiara is surprised and fumbles with her answers, speaking at first about how busy her life currently is. But eventually she does tell you she has a type. The dialogue differs depending on whether the MC is married to Drake or not:

(Screenshots on the left are from my playthrough, and the ones on the right are from @thefirstcourtesan's Drake playthrough).

...I look at Madeleine's dialogue in this scene and need to remind myself that even broken clocks can be right twice a day.

• Repeat after me, Kiki: I deserve way better than a dude who might throw me under the bus just so he can kiss a Duchess' ass.

• Also most guys in Cordonia must have rippling abs, right. Considering that 90% of the male LIs in PB have six-pack abs.

• Interestingly, Olivia is allowed her feelings - and the confusion and mess that comes along with loving someone and not having that love returned - across playthroughs, but Kiara's has to be adjusted and shrouded in vagueness according to which MC she is speaking to. There are two factors at play there:

1. More often than not the narrative has taken Olivia's feelings more seriously than it has ever taken Kiara's. Of course part of it could be the childhood memories and the amount of time she spent with Liam, but we need to remember that the general attitude in the narrative towards Kiara's feelings constantly bordered on dismissiveness - and that wasn't even the worst of the treatment meted out to her.

2. Have you seen the amount of hate Kiara got from some Drake stans for as little as looking in the man's direction?? They'd tear her apart if she dared to even mention her crush in a Drake MC's playthrough!

• The ladies of the court now want to play literally anything else, so the MC pulls out the tried-and-tested Truth and Dare game out of her fancy cowboy hat. Here's the way it goes:

- The MC nominates Savannah, since she's the bride-to-be. Savannah goes for dare, and has to go by a nickname for the rest of the night (default: Bridechilla. I was really craving something so I went for Fried Chicken 🤣), or pose for a sexy photo which she can text to Bertrand. No response, but you can hear him faint upstairs. When asked to nominate someone, she nominates Penelope to ask a question.

- Penelope chooses Kiara, who picks 'truth'. She makes the MC choose for her instead. The MC does what the Choices universe calls a Wed, Bed or Dead which is really a way of saying FMK without having to write the F. You can give her an option between three women (Olivia, Penelope and Madeleine) or three men. Based on your playthrough, Kiara's list of men will vary (Liam, Maxwell and Bastien in a Drake playthrough, and Bradshaw, Bastien and Drake in other playthroughs). Her 'bed's are Olivia, Maxwell and Bastien, her 'wed's are Penelope (obviously), Liam (to be Queen) and Drake (also obviously), and her 'dead's are Madeleine (but obviously), Bastien and Bradshaw (coz CORDONIA RULEZ!). It's interesting to note that Kiara seems surprised/shocked by the idea when you ask her to choose between the girls, and Hana eases her into it by stating that they're all friends here. Which I found really sweet. Kiara then nominates Madeleine to choose someone.

(note: why is Savannah acting so shocked about Kiara choosing her brother for 'marry' when she spoke about liking him barely ten minutes ago???)

- Madeleine chooses Olivia, hoping to wriggle out any information about the mysterious mission Olivia seems to be on. Olivia cleverly tricks her, by reminding Madeleine that she didn't say truth or dare, and picking dare. With no option she asks Olivia to prank call someone. Olivia has three options:

1. Give Maxwell a phone call pretending to have tickets for a Celine Dion concert. He has to choose the best noble house. Sweet Maxwell cannot choose between his own house and ours, but loses out because the correct answer (obviously) is House Nevrakis lol. Savannah's best line comes from here: "Don't worry, his heart will go on" 🤣

2. Give Bertrand a call claiming to be a representative from the Cordonia Philharmonic Orchestra, and Olivia asks the same question to him. His answer is House Beaumont, without question, and Olivia gives him the same answer. The nice thing about this option is that it's coded such that if you chose Savannah's 'sexy photo' option, the narrative mentions that his voice is 'woozy' and he sounds like he recently came back to consciousness. Whereas if you chose the nickname option, these lines would not be included.

3. Give Drake a call claiming to be from a "secret whiskey enthusiast society". Drake somehow figures out that the caller is Olivia, thus leaving her very, very annoyed.

Once this is done, Madeleine nominates the MC, who chooses truth or dare instead of a person like the others did. Hana makes the suggestions this time.

If you choose dare to a single Hana, she asks you to pretend to lasso Savannah.

If you choose dare to a married Hana, she will ask you to kiss her.

If you choose truth, she asks you what law you'd pass if you had a chance, and you have to choose between a serious one like "restrictions on paparazzi", or jokey ones like naming a day after the MC or getting fancy hats from her subjects. The last one yields this adorable exchange:

- Before we can go any further, the girls notice Savannah feeling drowsy and decide to call it a night. The only people who have basically not been asked anything are Penelope (but she already did get to speak about her beau) and Hana (because no one bothers to ask her anything, she isn't even nominated).

• We return to the kitchen, where our LI is waiting for us. The MC tells them about the visit from Amalas, which the LI also views as suspicious, and the MC has a choice again in how she wants to react to this (the visit was invasive, she is impressed with Amalas' guts, she doesn't know what to make of her). They assure the MC that they'll alert the Walkers.

• LI Diamond scene! A cute scene at the hayloft where the MC and LI can have some private time away from the ranch. Those walls must be paper-thin. The first half deals with the couple talking about loving this glimpse of simplicity, and the second half has the MC choosing how she would have them seduce her. The closing bit mostly has the couple talking about how they feel at home with each other no matter where they are.

Liam: Gets a bit of a hero moment at the start of the scene, where a stray beam almost falls on the MC and he catches it. They joke about a couple of things, such as how 'adventurous' the barn is, and whether or not a rendezvous in a barn would qualify as being in the 'outdoors' 😂 In the second half of the scene, the MC can choose between a 'rough-and-tumble', or have Liam sleep with her in his usual tender way. He clearly has a preference for the second, but is more than game if the MC wants to try the first.

The music for Liam's scene, for some reason, is different (his background score for the first half is the romantic one from High School Story, and Drake's and Hana's is the romantic one from Big Sky Country. I'm not sure what Maxwell's is like because I have only seen screenshots of the scene) and he is the only LI who gets the option to keep his hat.

Ending Caption: Hay-pilly Ever After

Hana: The MC notices that Hana seems happy and at home at the ranch, and Hana points out how different the environment of the countryside ("cows outside, open air, no display cupboards") is so different from her home, where "there's gilt on the walls and silver in the display cupboards", and how she loves this space. The couple imagine together how it might have been if they met in a more humble setting (with the MC as a cowgirl and Hana as a salon owner), and how they would fall in love. In the second half, Hana expresses her desire to go a little wild, and the MC can choose between having her hands bound, or being blindfolded.

This scene tells us that Hana does an amazing impression of a Southern accent and I personally would love it if she could coach Kiara on doing one xD

Ending Caption: Country Courting

Maxwell: As he leads her to the loft, the MC has the option to point out that they have a bed, to which he quips that she's obviously not had as much camping experience as he does. They do a little dance in the barn, and they admit that they missed each other while she was gone. In the second half of the scene, the MC has the opportunity to tease Maxwell, beckoning him to chase her around the barn and catch her. I think he also tells her to "use your words" at one point.

I think this scene has the cutest ending, because they both have an impromptu yodelling duet after that.

Ending Caption: Oh, Darlin'

Drake: This scene is more nostalgic in nature because Drake is reliving his childhood, and admits that he didn't know how this trip back would turn out, or feel. He had no idea how different everything would be, nor what his emotions returning to the ranch would be like - and which Valtoria will always be home to him in some ways, the ranch's simple charm means something special to him. The couple can imagine this place to be either perfect for romance, or for bringing back their future children. In the second half of the scene, he confesses to fantasizing about the MC in the palace stables, and the couple indulge in a bit of role play. This also includes an option to take her against a wall.

The end of the scene has Drake tell the MC that being with her itself feels like a fantasy, one that sometimes still feels too good to be true....and therefore he never wants to take it for granted.

Ending Caption: Making Hay.

• We then see the couple going downstairs the next morning, where the MC manages to overhear a conversation between Leona and Bianca that indicates the ranch has no helpers before an auction that is supposed to bring in money for the wedding, and is in deep, deep trouble.

• So our next chapter will probably involve the people of the court working together to help save the ranch, perhaps some flashbacks? Idk. And perhaps because of their contributions, Leona may thaw a little. Who knows.

General Thoughts:

• Plenty of callbacks this chapter!!

- The bachelorette party itself has plenty parallels and could almost be seen as an inverse of Madeleine's bachelorette. Back then, the ladies of the court each began to express frustration and hurt at her controlling, bullying behaviour, Hana's confidence was left in tatters, Olivia was an outsider to the court not bound by their rules.

Here, Madeleine is a largely unwanted presence and pretty much everyone makes it clear that what she thinks no longer matters. Hana is at the peak of her confidence here. She makes it clear that if Madeleine wants to stay she has to follow their rules. Olivia still manifests as a mysterious outside figure, but more out of choice than out of necessity.

- The other indicator of this parallel is what Amalas tells the MC about wanting to know who she is dealing with. She mentions that she wants to see how the MC interacts with her "friends and servants", and it kind of gets me wondering just how much trouble Madeleine would have been in if a figure like Amalas managed to see her behaviour in Italy with courtiers like Penelope and Hana.

- The fire drink which the MC can optionally suggest for both Drake and Savannah to drink. Drake drinks it in a competitive spirit in his birthday party scene in Book 1, Savannah looks doubtful at first but sees it through, to which the MC will remark that "your brother would be proud".

- Savannah mentioning Bertrand giving someone at Cordonia Philharmonic Orchestra a "severe tongue lashing" 🤣 Which kinda was a term Bertrand used for himself in Book 2.

- Lady 'I didn't know I could dance until I actually did it' Kiara. In Book 2 Hana can compliment Kiara on her dancing skills, to which Kiara laughs and mentions that she had no idea she could dance either. She was super drunk back then, now she knows it while she's sober too! 😅

- Some bits in this chapter remind me of our time with the Beaumonts in Book 1? Like the scene where Penelope speaks to the mechanical bull while drunk, while kiiiinda resembles her drunken behaviour at the Beaumont Bash. Also the whole situation of helpers/staff dropping off at the last minute seems a little parallel to what happened twice to the Beaumonts? Once with the MC's boat and then with the Beaumont Bash to host the court. I kinda find that interesting because Bertrand has been in a similar situation and hopefully could feel...somewhat...useful? If he can manage to string more words together, that is.

- Hana daring her wife to kiss her during Truth and Dare, which is (if you bought that scene and actually picked that option) exactly how their first kiss happened 😁😁😁

• I kinda like it when we have chapters like these where the women of the court have a chapter to themselves, because the dynamics are fun and the women are all different in ways that tend to complement each other.

• Honestly, Savannah asking my MC to become her maid of honour was pretty jarring considering my MC doesn't care a single bit about her and has honestly done very very little (if at all) to help her. I mean I can kiiiiinda understand if the MC is her sister-in-law/future SIL via Drake or Maxwell maybe...but otherwise why couldn't Kiara be an option? How is it that Savannah mentions her struggles to fit in, yet Kiara genuinely helping her never even features? Not even once?

I honestly think that Kiara could have been as good a choice to be MoH - we could have either coded it based on our diamond choices with Savannah, or split it between MC for Drake and Maxwell stans, and Kiki for Hana and Liam stans. Or at least more of an acknowledgement of how they were friends before she left? Beyond an offhand "oh yeah you taught me French, not like that helped me in that completely foreign place where I was bringing up my baby, maybe I should have taught you to speak country". Because having Savannah give me a grand speech about how amazing I've been to her was nothing short of weird and it would have felt a lot more natural to see her at least remembering the friendship(s) she did make in court.

• In at least two points in the chapter, Penelope requires someone to handhold her into certain things. You have to create the space for her while dancing. You have to decide on what questions to ask Kiara coz Penelope doesn't want to decide those herself. I'd actually be glad about their commitment to writing her that way, if I didn't understand how much they've let Penelope get away with, and how much other characters in similar positions have to suffer because the same amount of thought is never given to them.

The failplay I did of all three books brought up a couple interesting (but also disheartening) points about how they dealt with Penelope's condition, and how they dealt with difficult situations other characters had to go through (esp Kiara and Hana). At this point Penelope just sounds extremely entitled to good treatment, without wanting to really give back much in return.

• Kiara...well...I love her in this. She was fun, tried new things out, got out of her comfort zone, and she had some marvellous lines in this chapter. I just think it's funny how huge the differences between the way Olivia's feelings are acknowledged regardless vs the way Kiara's can only be acknowledged if it doesn't affect the MC...and it kind of says something about how those feelings are viewed by those writers. Because as a reader who has been following this story thread closesly, I know the writers have either conveniently forgotten - or take very lightly - how shitty Drake has been to her.

• I mean...had it been just about him not being interested, I probably wouldn't have cared much. I would have either turned to fanfic to change that around a bit, that's something you can always do for a pair you want to see but know you can't in canon. But realizing that the man could openly suspect a woman he knew was stabbed at the same event he was shot, optionally pander to the MC's whims and dismiss what she was going through in the process, and to not feel any fucking remorse for it...I mean, Kiara doesn't deserve better just because Drake doesn't isn't interested in her - because no one should have to be obligated to show interest for another person...Kiara deserves better because this man has done very little for her in their few exchanges (esp Book 3) besides ridicule, mock, act rudely and unfairly to her, and finally getting away with the worst possible behaviour without any consequence (some of it is optional, but the suspicion was definitely default). And I know the writing will never admit that because Drake is their golden boy.

• Madeleine causes minimal damage this time and Hana totally owned her a couple times today...so I'm kinda happy with that. At least they made sure never to bring back any hints of that story they were planning with her for Hana...if there is one thing I'm only too happy they are retconning, it's that!

• Speaking of Hana - there are maybe a couple of things I'm happy about and a lot that I'm not. I like that that she can throw shade (though I wish to God they would have let her do it much earlier) at Madeleine, and my favourite bits involve Hana not allowing that woman to get away with shit that she never allowed other people to get away with when she was in power.

But there's also the fact that she's pretty much treated like the least important person in that room? Like I would have personally loved to see her be asked a cute fun question. I mean, by now both Liam and Drake have gotten individual character scenes, and I only get to see Hana in the context of a group scene with the ladies where she is mostly helping the others? I loved that we got the barn scene afterwards...but let's be honest the barn scene was mostly about the sex.

I honestly just found it weird that the one chapter with (optionally) no men in it still couldn't have some focus on her, or much effort put into her. Is asking for more than scraps for her, too much to ask for? (I feel like the answer to that would be yes).

• Olivia is upto something, and the livestream apparently hinted at her being important to the story. I mean what's new about that? Olivia is a favourite of the writers and they will continue to favour her while Hana is still relegated to the sidelines (and so will a huge chunk of this fandom). No lie, I really like Olivia, but why the heck aren't you giving the lone female LI that much attention?

• I also wonder how much of her mysterious work has to do with the reading up she was telling us about in the last book's epilogue.

• Queen Amalas...I still don't know what to make of her - she's a pretty interesting mix of intrigue and invasiveness I think. She's flirty and teasing, but the way she slipped in those tidbits about our past definitely raised my hackles a little bit. Could be a red herring...could be more. Who knows.

• The Olivia and Madeleine dynamics were great...Kiara is still an awesome, encouraging friend to Penelope, but for me the highlight was Hana and Kiara's bonding (that exchange about hats definitely was a winner).

(Is part of my joy because I ship them? Yes. Yes it is. You can pry that ship outta my cold dead hands PB!)

• The barn scene was lovely: it was nice that the couples got to explore their more adventurous/homely sides in the first half of the scene, and were able to go completely wild for the second half of it. I think it's nice we got to see what they'd mostly like to experiment with in bed from time to time.

• I guess that's all for this chapter. Texas might possibly take a week or two more? Idk. Let's see. Rescuing the ranch may take a chapter, and so will the wedding...there may be one in between probably to figure out BertVannah's relationship but I'm not going to spend diamonds to make them talk to each other, no.

• I kinda like the subtle shift to childhood experiences to certain scenes in this book, because it gives the MC who doesn't know what the place is like for a child an idea of what the others had to grow up with...and therefore how she may need to approach her parenting. A number of the group scenes in this half of the book have had to do with childhood experiences the royals and nobles may have missed out on (pets, sleepovers) and the return-to-childhood narrative is a smart way to deal with that, I think.

• That's it for this chapter, guys! See you on Friday (hopefully) with a Book 1 QT, and next week with the next chapter!

#long post #the royal heir #trh quick thoughts #trh qts #hana lee #olivia nevrakis #trr kiara #trr penelope #trr madeleine #savannah walker #king liam #maxwell beaumont #drake walker #bertrand beaumont

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cupidmarwani-archive · 5 years

Text

Scoring (Olivia/Alex/Carmen)

Summary: Alex thinks two players for the French team are hot. Lucky for her they feel the same. (World Cup Fic, Smut)

WC: 2797

Alex has worked hard to get where she is. She’s been playing soccer since she was a little girl, made a career out of it, and now made the U.S. team in the world cup. She doesn’t speak much French- only knowing how to say hello, goodbye, please, thank you, and do you speak English- but that doesn’t put a damper on where she is and the teammates she’s with. Their white jerseys mark them as a beacon of hope on the huge field. Something to focus on other than the screaming crowd and the announcements that are in French slightly more often than they aren’t.

It’s during half-time that she first takes a real look at the other time. They’ve been relegated to blobs of navy blue, but now she can see their faces. Two of the players nearest to her, Benson and Noble, are talking between sips of water, getting refreshed before they speak to their coach. They stand close to each other, touching, faces inches away. Noble takes Benson’s hair down and scrapes it into a neater ponytail with her fingers before wiping them on Benso8n’s jersey with a laugh. They seem happy.

“Venez!” The French coach yells, and the two women jog over. Alex thinks she sees their hands interlock. She doesn’t have something like that, but she wants to. “Vous dépêchez-vous! Benson! Noble! Vite!”

At the same time, the American coach demands Alex’s attention and she’s forced to turn her attention away. They’re talking about substitutions, about how to play the second half of the game and better counter the French team, but all she can think about are Benson and Noble, whose faces she’s seen on some posters and advertisements, she thinks. Benson likes to show off. She likes fancy kicks and keeping the ball under her control. But Noble, Noble is a defender. She’s not one to score, but she can kick like hell. Pied de Mine, she was called in an interview once. It means foot of lead, or something like that. Makes sense, as far as Alex is concerned.

For the entire rest of the game, as Alex crouches on her knees more often than she doesn’t and watches the action at the other end of the field, her attention is on Benson and Noble. They work well together, she notices. Pass back and forth more to each other than to the other players, get the ball moving faster and faster.

Of course, at some point, Noble gets control of the ball and the next thing Alex knows, she’s in the action. She lifts a knee to get it under control before it spins down, and gets ready to pass it to Novak at her left to avoid the swarm of navy headed right for them. Before she gets the chance, Benson is right there and Alex is kicking the ball back behind her ankles and trying to protect it until she gets a free chance to pass, weaving between the French players and keeping the ball close like a mother hen guards her egg.

Then she messes up.

Alex overestimates the room she has, and suddenly she’s in the air, and then on her back, and her head smacks against the turf. Jesus. Her chest aches a little and so do her legs, where she must’ve crashed into someone. A whistle from the ref halts the game just as Alex opens her eyes to, of course, Benson.

“Mademoiselle? Vous etes bien?”

Alex pushes herself into a sitting position. “I… English?”

Benson’s face screws up for a moment. In a heavy accent, she asks, “You are okay, miss?”

“Yeah. Yeah, I think I’m fine.”

She gives a thumbs up to the referee and allows Benson to help Alex back to her feet. Her head is a little pained, but she can work through the last twenty minutes of the game just fine, thank you.

For the rest of the match, nothing eventful happens. The score remains 1-1, Alex doesn’t collide with anyone else, and there aren’t any penal shots or cards. It ends a tie, and then there are interviewers coming onto the field to wave microphones in everyone’s face. One of the midfielders for the American team is talking to someone, but Alex is still watching Benson and Noble. Noble is on Benson’s shoulders now, yelling and laughing. They look happy.

Alex takes her jersey off and heads to the sidelines for some water and a towel. She needs a shower, some dinner, and an HBO documentary to fall asleep to afterwards. First thing in the morning, she’ll head to the gym with Novak and Rollins, and then they’ll likely do a little bit of sightseeing since their next match isn’t for a few days.

“Ey!”

Benson is carrying Noble over on her shoulders, occasionally pressing small kisses to the inside of her knee. “Bon jeu, bon jeu, bon jeu,” Benson repeats to every American player they pass.

“Est-ce que votre équipe va manger ensemble ce soir?” Noble asks, only for Benson to squeeze her leg. “J’suis désolée, mon dieu, Olivia! Miss, is it that your team eats together tonight?”

“Yeah, we’re having team dinner.”

A moment later, Noble nods. “Ouais, we are too. After, if you have not more plans, we would like to buy you drinks? As sorry for knocking you down.”

“Okay. We’re in Reims, so if you know a good bar?”

“Vingt et un heure?” Noble says softly to Benson.

“Bien.”

“At twenty one hours- that is nine for you? Nine? We will come to see you and take you for drinking.”

------

Someone knocks on the door of Alex’s hotel room at exactly nine pm. She ate dinner with her team, got ribbed by Novak about Noble and Benson flirting, and had a nice shower to get rid of the sweat and dirt from the game. She’d like to think she’s dressed nicely. Jeans and her favorite button down, white with little sharks in various colors. She’s even got her converse on for a pop of red. She thinks she looks good when she opens the door to Benson and Noble, both dressed down in tee shirts and their team jackets. They look beautiful, though, like the sort of women Alex would flirt with in a bar back home, although they’re obviously holding hands now.

“J’t’ai dit, non?” Benson says softly. “C’est quoi son nom? Lui demandes.”

“You can say Carmen,” Noble says, pointing to herself, “and Olivia. You call yourself what?”

“Alex.”

Carmen smiles. “Alex. Follow, we will take you to the bar.”

As soon as Alex locks her hotel door and slips her key card back into her pocket, Olivia grabs one of her hands and interlocks their fingers like hers and Carmen’s, and the three of them head toward the elevators. They’re probably going to stay in the hotel bar, Alex thinks, and is proved correct when they take their place at a little mahogany table and Olivia goes up to the bar to get drinks.

“How long have you played?” Carmen asks. She has a beautiful smile. Alex can’t stop looking at it? “We played from the time we were small.”

“I started in fourth grade. I must’ve been…” Alex counts back, “nine? Ten?”

Olivia comes back. “Un champagne pour moi.” She sets a glass of bubbly on the table. “Un pour toi.” She gives one to Carmen. “Et un pour vous, la belle.”

“Use your English,” Carmen teases. “On l’amuse, ouais?”

Pouting, Olivia sits beside Alex and presses their bodies close enough that Alex can feel the warmth radiating off her, count the little freckles on her nose and cheeks. Olivia looks like sunshine, but Carmen looks like the moon. Between the two of them, they make a good pair.

“I must be sorry. My English is not very well.”

Alex waves a hand. “It’s no problem. Did you two grow up together?”

“Non.” Carmen laughs. “I was growing up in Clichy, Olivia in the- septiѐme, mon p’tit chou? She was growing up in the seven neighborhood. That is the one with the Eiffel Tower.”

“We met playing football. We played not the same team for club, but for national, yes. She kissed me the first time at last world cup.” Alex opens her mouth to respond, but gets distracted watching Olivia down her champagne like a shot and lean forward over the table with her forearms pressed together. Alex very pointedly doesn’t look. “It makes nice to talk, but we came here because I want to touch your… English word, Carmen? How do they call it? Son minou?”

Whatever she said, it was vulgar. Alex knows that much from context, and from the way Carmen nearly chokes on her drink.

“Trop vite, Olivia! On a dit qu’on lui parle premiere, et lui demande s’il fait bien.”

Olivia laughs and presses a kiss to Carmen’s cheek. “Alex, you are a lovely woman. I would love to get to know you actually. But what I want more than that right now, is that I want you to sit yourself above my face.”

“Olivia!”

If she could see her reflection, Alex is sure she would be blushing. “I, uh, yes?”

There’s a self-satisfied smirk on Olivia’s face. “Is it that your room at the hotel is well?”

“Yeah.”

Olivia stands up, pulls Carmen to her feet as well, and looks to Alex with that same, smug, not quite smile on her face that suggests mischief. She’s like a fairy, a sprite, full of mischief and promises.

They all walk back to Alex’s hotel together, Olivia standing between Carmen and Alex holding each of their hands, swinging them back and forth childishly in a stark contrast to what they’re about to do. Alex can’t wait to see what happens, even if she obviously knows the basics, because she’s never actually done anything with more than one person at once. Definitely not with someone as confident as Olivia seems to be, even with the language barrier.

In the elevator on the way up to Alex’s room, Olivia starts kissing her. Her lips are soft, her teeth sharp when they needle against her bottom lip. Carmen’s lips are soft too, but her kisses even more so when they start along Alex’s throat. The whole ride up feels like she’s floating. She’s caught, trapped between two angels. In heaven.

Carmen slips Alex’s key card out of her back pocket and opens the door for them, before tossing the piece of plastic off somewhere irritating Alex will struggle to find in the morning. It doesn’t matter right now.

“L’aides se déshabiller,” Olivia breathes against Alex’s lips.

Then Carmen is pushing against Alex’s hips and she stumbles back until her knees hit the mattress. She starts tugging at Alex’s slacks while Olivia’s fingers start undoing the buttons on her shirt. Warm hands slide up her back afterward, unclasp her bra. Everything is warm, hot even, as Olivia feels her chest. It’s not quite clinical, but it’s exploratory, more practiced than emotional. Something about that makes it more intense.

As soon as she’s undressed, Olivia spins her around and lets herself fall back on the bed. Carmen’s behind her, urging her to move up, up, until her thighs bracket Olivia’s face. Slightly freckled hands grab on to take control just as a wet tongue presses itself between Alex’s folds. Carmen presses up against her from behind and gets her hands on Alex’s breasts as well. She’s an expert at it too, but in a different kind of way. She touches slow and careful, rubs the rough pad of her thumbs over pink nipples.

“Vous l’aimez? Sa langue à votre chatte? Elle est douée, non?”

“I don’t- ah- I don’t speak French.”

Carmen laughs in her ear and it sounds the way honey tastes. “Just enjoy, hmm? Olivia is so good at what she does.”

Exactly alongside those words, Olivia gets around to more precise, deadly kitten licks against her clit. It’s been too long, probably, since Alex was touched by something other than her own fingers or the little pink vibe that she has stowed in her suitcase. That had been fun to explain at customs, but it’s easier than stumbling through being a celebrity buying a sex toy in a foreign country.

“You must taste so good for Olivia. She tastes good, mon p’tit chou?”

Olivia moans enthusiastically, and it feels better than any toy ever could. This has to be a dream, Alex thinks, for two gorgeous women to be so invested in making her feel like she’s on cloud nine. Fuck. She’s resisting the urge to pull Olivia’s hair, because it’s not polite. Alex would like to believe she’s a gentlewoman, and a good bedfellow. Does anyone say that anymore? She doesn’t get the chance to think about that very much, because Carmen grabs her by the hips and pulls her back, giving them both a beautiful look at the wetness dripping off Olivia’s face.

“Doux. Mon coeur, tu veux la goûter?”

Alex is momentarily nudged aside for Carmen and Olivia to kiss, Olivia obviously pushing her tongue into the other woman’s mouth, and she really doesn’t mind just watching for a moment. They know each other’s mouths, each other’s bodies. They’re so tender together. Alex could spend an eternity watching them kiss, but gets distracted by Carmen’s hand trailing down Olivia’s stomach and slipping beneath the waistband of their jeans. They need to get undressed too.

When they part for Olivia to whine desperately, Alex takes the opportunity to grab at the cuffs of Olivia’s jeans and start tugging the denim off her toned legs. They’re so long. Up high, nestled against the crook of Olivia’s hips, are bruises in various stages of healing, but all clearly dark and possessive and clearly the work of Carmen’s patience when she gets her lips around a piece of delicate skin.

“Off,” Olivia commands, managing to make brief eye contact with Alex as she loops a finger in the waistband of Carmen’s jeans.

Alex gets the message, and fumbles with the button. It’ll be impossible to strip them off completely in the position Carmen currently holds, but she gets them down her hips and halfway toward her knees, boxers included. It’s not surprising that she wears them instead of normal underwear- most of the players do. These are more comfortable and practical than a strip of cotton, or God forbid, lace.

“You heard her. Off, c’mon, off.”

With another soft, warming laugh, Carmen stands up long enough to finish stripping herself and rip her tee shirt off her bed. She sticks her tongue out at Olivia’s subsequent whine for the sudden lack of stimulation to her clit. Then Carmen gets Olivia’s torso naked, and by then, all of them are on an even footing with nothing to hide and everything to give.

This time, it’s Alex who Carmen reaches for. She kisses her like they’re more than just two women who met today and fell into bed with the help of a third, one who’s pretty damn good at eating pussy. Jesus Christ. Carmen’s fingers that had felt so nice on her nipples not too long ago find their way between Alex’s legs to rub up against her clit for a moment before moving lower. Two slender fingers push their way into her at an angle which allows for Alex to grind forward against the heel of her hand.

“Ey- vous pouvez pas me laisser! Vennez,” Olivia whines, making Carmen laugh before bringing herself and Alex back onto the mattress to all lay together. Olivia curls up warmly against Alex’s back and touches her too, back to tracing circles around her clit while Carmen fingers her slowly. She’s going to be covered in marks from her collarbones to her hips, and she doesn’t mind in the slightest.

“Do you want me to- to touch-”

“Shh,” Olivia breathes against her shoulder, barely audible. “Let us to take care of you. I told Carmen, I told her, I should take ma pine. I want to make you to feel good.”

“What?”

Carmen curls her fingers against Alex’s g-spot. “In English, it calls herself a strap? On the internet, that is what they say to me. They want my strap.”

“Jesus.”

“Non, Olivia et Carmen.”

Now all she can think about is Olivia grabbing her thighs and fucking her deep and long while Carmen whispers more filthy words in her ear, mostly in French, which sounds so much hotter than it has any right to be. It must be her tone of voice.

Alex knows she’ll have to ask them for the chance to get fucked even deeper than she already is the second she gets the chance.

(TRANSLATIONS)

#Olivia Benson #Alex cabot #carmen svu #law and order: svu #mine #fic

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