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#I find her to be a goddess of painting yet he says I have qualities on my work that she currently doesn't have SDFSSDSDFSD
plavi · 3 years
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Me: It’s time for a much needed slap of reality. To tell me what’s what!
Mentor: *is nothing but caring and understanding about my situation, gives me good guidance and suggestions how to better my work, as well as tells me I’m a hard-worker and everything will be all right*
Me: I don’t deserve you!!! 😭😭😭
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blzzrdstryr · 3 years
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Generous offering
Yandere!Zhongli x gn!Fatui Harbinger!reader
Wordcount:1843
CW:Yandere themes
There are several simple things one should know before dealing with the archons - be respectful and polite, speak only when you’re allowed to and most importantly - never forget that archons aren’t humans.
The first two rules are instinctive - it’s natural for humans to simper and bow before the forces far greater than them, while the latter is not; on the contrary it’s counterintuitive and unexpected. People tend to project, tend to humanize - they see kindness when there’s none and make a huge mistake of assuming that archons see things the way they see it.
Tsaritsa, for example, lacks humanity, despite holding the title of Goddess of Love. The love that she holds for you is different from love mothers and fathers give to their children, or love that young sweethearts share at night, it’s cold and impersonal and undeniably cruel.
Tsaritsa says that she loves all of you and she loves Snezhnaya, yet she lashes out a harsh and gruelling punishments at every perceived failure and rules her land with an iron fist, one would think that the cryo archon is a liar and a hypocrite, who uses pretty, flowery words to hide the atrocities she commits, but this perspective is flawed. Tsaritsa loves all of you and she loves Snezhnaya, she’s just not human enough to properly express this.
That’s why it’s a bit jarring to see the ancient lord of these lands in his mortal form - he lacks the same otherworldly terror and grandiose that every of Tsaritsa’s move and word carry, yet he also possesses the air of wisdom and elegance so refined that rare person can reach it. It’s easy to assume that he’s human.
Rex Lapis, or “Zhongli” as he calls himself now invites you to the Liuli pavillion the second day after your arrival, for tea and local cuisine as he says, and who are you to decline a God?
Liuli staff hurries and dashes around, preparing their best room for you - Fatui are known for their seemingly endless finances, no wonder they’re in haste. “Please make yourself comfortable, dear guests”, the waiter curtsies and leads you to the dining room, which happens to be richly furnished and decorated with high-quality darkwood furniture and the hand painted wall panels further accentuating the luxury of the restaurant.
One of these panels illustrate different scenes from the Liyuen mythos - a battle of mighty and wise adepti against the horde of demons, Rex Lapis aiding his people in building the Harbour and the most spectacular one - a majestic dark brown dragon with golden fur and feathers descending to the devoted worshippers, who in turn present him with their offerings and gratitude.
He orders tea and meals for both of you, as you start to converse about the plan that he is determined to bring into life - the so-called test of Liyue, and the guarantee of you obtaining his gnosis.
“And what about your colleague?”, he sips a bit of his tea, intense amber eyes piercing right through you. He looks both human and non-human in this moment, both undeniably mortal softness and frailty seen in his figure and the barely concealed divinity, the sense of awe slowly seeping into air mixing in one person.
“And what about him? Tsaritsa and you have negotiated everything beforehand, I will make sure that he plays his part properly”, he hums at your answer, lowering his gaze deep in thought. You start on your own tea.
Ah, Childe, if only he knew why exactly he’s here - a distraction and a scapegoat. You even feel bad for him - it’s truly unfair to be lied to by your own Goddess. However, it’s also not a big surprise - Childe is the loudest out of all Harbingers in all senses. Infamous for his skills and battle obsession, his name is enough to have people both shivering in fear and cursing him.
“What do you think of your archon? Was serving her of any use to you?”Rex Lapis unexpectedly asks.
You lean back in your seat, thinking what to say.
“Tsaritsa is a gentle soul, she declared war only to protect us, her subjects and I am ready to aid her in whatever undertaking she starts”.
“Will you continue to serve Tsaritsa, if her action might put you in danger, make you suffer and bring unnecessary grief?”, he leans closer to you, his human features distorting enough to reveal the ancient dragon sleeping inside. His eyes shine a cold golden glow and accurate fingernails morph into sharp, dark claws.
“Yes”, you breathe out, mesmerized and terrified by the sudden change: “Her love knows no bounds, yet she always puts the needs of the nation before anyone else. If my suffering can help Snezhnaya, then I will accept it with open arms”, he moves back at your answer, all draconic traces gone in an instance, upper corner of his lips subtly rising - whatever you said must’ve pleased him immensely.
The conversation flows back into the territory of plans to be realized, yet the cold sensation of dread still clings to you, your gut feeling yelling at you to get up and run. You remain seated to the end of your meeting, politely conversing with the God that terrifies you.
***
Days slowly grow into weeks and Childe acts just as you have expected - the Eleventh Harbinger might be smart, yet even he wouldn’t be able to see what two of you are scheming. Still, you request Ekaterine, a spy you planted in Northland bank, to keep you updated on the Tartaglia’s actions - extra caution never hurts.
You continue to meet up with geo archon, as you two discuss your next actions. Tartaglia has started cooperating with that blonde foreigner Signora has warned you about, and while this union doesn’t pose any threat to your plans, it’s always good to have a plan B, just in case something happens.
Sometimes your conversation develops into a more unexpected direction, as you find the archaic lord more chatty and tending to ramble, than any of Liyuen historians would dare to picture him as. One on such occasion he talks with you about dragons - benevolent deities who protect and bless their people in an exchange of generous offerings.
His eyes devour you, as he retells you ancient folktales and you suppress your discomfort, preferring to attribute his honestly unnerving behaviour down to his lack of humanity - he was never human in the first place.
That’s why you also prohibit yourself from viewing him as anything but God - Rex Lapis in his “Zhongli” persona is genuinely attractive, he’s well-mannered and obviously handsome and far more knowledgeable than any mortal should be. If you didn’t know of his true nature you would have fallen for him by now - it’s hard not to.
Life, how strange that wouldn’t sound, goes as usual - you get Ekaterine’s report on what Childe’s up to and if it’s something unexpected you book a Liuli pavilion room and send an invitation to the funeral parlour consultant. You only need to wait until Childe gets desperate enough and decides to use the sigils of permission to unleash the well-awaited chaos.
This routine however is soon broken by the appearance of familiar ashy-white hair in the distance. She doesn’t wear her signature mask or dress, nor are there agents at both of her sides, yet you can still clearly recognize her. Signora leaves the Wangsheng building in haste, cape with the hood concealing most of her face and figure, except the long locks of hair, peeking from inside.
What is she doing here?
You thought that Tsaritsa sent two of her servants - Tartaglia and you, him to “test” Liyue, you to oversee the former’s actions and obtain gnosis, there’s no need to send her too.
Your mind races, as you search for a logical explanation of Signora’s presence as your memory supplies the piece of first conversation you had with “Zhongli” - could it be that Tsaritsa also sent you to play a role you have no idea of?
Cryo archon is a goddess of love and her love is cruel and unforgiving, she has sacrificed countless chess pieces before, so it wouldn’t be surprising if she did that again - you are nothing but a pawn after all, one of the tools she uses to exact her will and force her vision, all of the Harbingers are.
You want to believe that you can accept and resign to whatever hardship and fate your Goddess might subject you to. You can’t.
***
Adepti and Qixing converse at the pier of the seaport, as you hurry to the Northland Bank, a slight smile playing on your lips - Childe has finally done it - he summoned an ancient god to lure out Rex Lapis, ultimately proving that Liyue can stand without him.
There are sounds of heated argument heard when you open the building’s door and then you see it - Signora and Tartaglia exchanging barely concealed insults and “Zhongli” standing nearby.
“[Harbinger]? What are you doing here?”, the ginger shifts his gaze onto you, a rare emotion of hurt and disbelief flickering in his dead fish eyes. “Of course, Tsaritsa sent you too”, he smiles, angry and disappointed. “Seems that whole world wants to make a bad guy out of me”, he stomps out of the room, leaving you with Signora and “Zhongli”
“[Harbinger]”
“Signora'', you acknowledge each other, after she trails exiting Childe with her eyes.
“I am here to take the gnosis of Rex Lapis”, she says and you nod, accepting that your Goddess lied to you too: “Tsaritsa also asked me to give you this letter”, she extends her arm, a thick envelope with the familiar seal catching your attention.
With the trembling hands you snatch it out of her hold and almost rip the envelope - for what reason did Tsaritsa send you here?
She writes that you need to stay in Liyue for an undetermined period of time to upkeep “the agreement” made between her and Rex Lapis. You read her message silently, yet when your eyes trace over these words, the sensation of “ “Zhongli’s” eyes on you becomes ten times sharper and stifling. You don’t know what to do.
The other Harbinger leaves too, taking the gnosis with her, as “Zhongli” takes a couple of steps to you, touching your shoulder in a somewhat reassuring gesture. “[First]”, he starts, tone sympathetic and soothing. You don’t fall for it.
“You had your hand in it, didn't you?”, you hiss and accuse, throwing an angry glance at him, momentarily forgetting about the first two rules of dealing with archons.
He smiles, revealing two sharp fangs, his surprisingly scaly hands snaking around yours. “Yes”, Rex Lapis admits, and looks nothing like gentle and knowledgeable “Zhongli”. How could you forget? Archons aren’t humans, humanity is just a fancy dress they don to toy with mortals. He is the dragon, not the benevolent deity that is painted on the wall panels of Liuli pavillion, but a greedy and ancient creature, hungry for gifts and gratitude.
You are his generous offering.
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melonsap · 3 years
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How about that mermaid from Link's Awakening?
Or hinoxes?
Or Pikango (he confuses me. He appears Sheikah but he said that he wasn't, if I remember correctly) ?
Zelda Merpeople
So, the mermaid from Link's Awakening is extremely cute, 10/10 would date her, but Link's Awakening's entire world is...a dream. There's Yoshi and Chain Chomps and things like that on the island. It makes it hard to worldbuild for.
Instead, though, we can decide where Link had HEARD of mermaids, and speculate what they would be like if they were a Hyrulean race.
So!
"The Legend of Zelda" is a popular tale among the Hyruleans, but it's FAR from the only one. Through milk bars and apple taverns alike, there are tales of grand sky cities, haunted undergrounds, falling moons, and just about anything travelers bring to the bard to tell the audiences.
One of those tales is of the Mermaid's Comb:
In the seas far from Hyrule, where the waters are clear and vibrant fish can be found anywhere you look, the Kingdom of Scales resides, full of people that are half fish, half Hylian. Some say they're a lost tribe of Zora cursed to need air, others say they're Hylians protected from the outside world by the intervention of the goddesses. These people are known as the Mers.
Among the Mers, a prince by the name of Ela lived, set to inherit the throne as soon as he wed. Suitors came from far and wide to ask his hand, yet, each and every one, he refused. His father implored him, begging him to consider at least one of the bachelors and bachelorettes who came knocking.
Finally, Prince Ela gave in. "Whoever can retrieve my comb," he said, "I will allow to court me." With that, he tucked a lovely comb, inlaid with pearls and bearing a flower carved of sapphire, behind his ear.
In the weeks that followed, everyone tried their hardest to get the comb. Pickpockets routinely tried to cross his path, spies kept track of his location, and some even went so far as to try breaking into the prince's room. With each transgression, more and more suitors were thrown out of the kingdom.
It just so happened that during this time, a wandering Zora named Nemony was visiting the kingdom to hawk his wares, weapons of finest silver. He had many customers, but one in particular always stuck around to chat with him; a young Mer who always wore an expensive-looking comb in his hair. Nemony enjoyed his company, and the two often took turns attempting to make each other laugh. Fish faces, jokes, overdramatically-recounted tales; they made a game of trying to be as stoic as possible, which only ever added to the competition.
During one such competition, an aggressive bachelorette from a neighboring city entered the weapons shop with a team of guards, attempting to snatch the comb away from Ela by force. Nemony dove into action, taking a silver claymore off of the wall and charging. In a matter of seconds, every one of the guards was defeated, and the suitor was held at blade's edge. "Get out," he growled through sharp teeth, "and never come back."
The bachelorette fled in terror, and Ela's eyes shone. As thanks, he pulled the comb from his hair and offered it to Nemony, who laughed. "What am I supposed to do with this?" he asked, gesturing to his fins. "Is this another of your jokes?"
"You'll have to see when you come to the palace," Ela replied, then swam away.
No one knows if the two did marry, as no one has been to the Kingdom of Scales since. But it's said that, ever since then, the Mer people of the Southern Seas forever offered combs as engagement gifts, and the Zora forever offered sapphires.
(Ask any Zora, though, and they'll roll their eyes. Sapphires mean so much more than a child's tale.)
Now then, if I were to put the mermaids in Hyrule, they'd likely live around Eventide. The waters are warm and tropical, and fish are in no short supply. Their colors would likely be less vibrant as they migrated further north, and they'd decorate themselves with armor made of silver crab shells and fabric spun out of sea grass. During the night, you'd be able to see the glow of their cities; it's led to rumors in Hateno and Lurelin that Eventide is haunted.
Hinox
Hinoxes are an interesting monster, and one of Ganon's creations. They're large, have a certain degree of intelligence comparable to Bokoblins, and are best defined by the singular eye they posses.
Hinoxes are EXTREMELY territorial. They fight each other for the best possible hunting ground, where they use whatever they have at their disposal to get the upper hand; bombs, fists, even trees as of late. They tend to be extremely destructive to the surrounding terrain as a result of this.
However, despite all this, if a pair of Hinoxes are forced to team up against a stronger opponent, they may share territory from then onward; Hinoxes in relationships like these are called "brothers," as they avoid interacting otherwise.
A Hinox's diet consists of both meat and fruit, occasionally including fish. Its stomach, rather than dissolving what it eats in acid, torches its contents until the food dissolves into ash, which is absorbed by their intestines. This organ is valuable in alchemy for its heat-resistent properties. The thick lining and natural heating matrix allows for elixirs to be forced to a more controlled temperature during brewing. Unfortunately, it smells like burned popcorn no matter what you do to it.
Hinox don't chew their food, and lack taste buds. Rather, they swallow it whole, and their teeth are used more like tusks; the larger the two primary teeth up front, the more aggressive the Hinox tends to be. Desperate travelers can often find seared meat and well-cooked fruit in a defeated hinox's stomach.
A Hinox's size is indicative of the health of its environment; the larger the Hinox, the more resources are available to it, and in turn, the better quality ingredients it produces. Its nails, for instance, are only valuable at their peak condition, but when that peak is hit, they can be powdered and used as a focusing agent, increasing the potency of an elixir significantly.
And, lastly, Hinoxes are attracted to shiny things, which they adorn themselves with as trophies; some theorize that they're used to attract mates, while others say they're a warning sign to other Hinoxes about what happens if their territory is invaded. Regardless of their purpose, it's best to wear dark clothing and drink a sneaky elixir before you go anywhere near one of them.
Pikango
Oh, Pikango is a Sheikah! He's just not from Kakariko: "Since I'm an outsider, I can't get anyone to tell me any more details than that. These villagers never leave the safety of their village, so travelers like me are treated with suspicion."
Ever since he was a little boy, his parents told him stories of the Great Faries that once blessed the world with their presence. From a young age, he's often wanted to paint such beautiful creatures; though, his attempts without references have gotten him some strange looks.
He got his start in traveling while searching for paints. The Kochi Dye Shop served him well for a little while, but there were hues that it just couldn't make, so he set out to find his own colors. And, during his travels, he heard that Kakariko Village held a Fairy Fountain, so he HAD to go see it himself.
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antiloreolympus · 3 years
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5 Anti LO Asks
1. I’ve been wondering and wouldn’t it make more sense if Persephone had stronger boundaries? Since we know she was always with the nymphs and her Demeter was always hovering over her wouldn’t it make more sense or give the plot a new direction if Persephone was pretty much rebelling with everyone? Eros wants to find more about her sex life or who she has a crush on, she tells him to go bother someone else. A lot of the gods in Olympus pretty much treat Persephone the same as the nymphs back home (asking too many questions, not letting her do what she wants, constantly being with her). Persephone being nice and all is one way however it seems more fitting if she was to just rebel and be more of a loner in the beginning of moving to Olympus (since we know that she was annoyed with being surrounded with nymphs and her mom all the time) and you could say “oh but she felt bad then bc one of her nymph friends died and she committed the act of wrath” but even then she was upset about her friend but she committed the act of wrath bc they called her a minor and unimportant goddess, not bc her friend died. Her having this fragile ego and self image issue goes better with her moving to Olympus and just wanting to do her own thing and wanting to be alone and independent. Not only that but this would actually fit much better with her dread queen personality, as her having this ego boost of being alone and independent would actually show so much personality growth and make her much more appropriate as an underworld queen, because by that time she’ll have learnt how to stand on her own and have her own opinions and thoughts and know when to stop being with people and when to be with them.. these are much more desirable qualities in a queen of the underworld than a girl who cries at everything and still is scared of what everyone will think
2. i remember awhile ago webtoons posted some "where would you live?" instagram post and it has LO olympus/underworld as an option and im like why would anyone chose to live a capitalist dictatorship where the 1% can kill, maim, and abuse you at their hearts content? because there's no way any of us would be an 1% god. the other options got more support but it was so weird. id much rather live in the evil casino from percy jackson than be in the hellscape that is LO's universe. what a nightmare.
3. Can we talk about the episode where Hades and Persephone are trying to change Minthe back into a nymph again.. The fact that Persephone has a worried look on her face when she asks Hecate if her mother knows about her whereabouts tells enough about the fact she is aware she has messed up big time. A lot of the fans and even RS herself has painted Demeter as a helicopter and abusive mom but honestly can you blame her? Look at what happened IN TWO WEEKS since Persephone moved in with Artemis. I know that Demeter should have told Persephone about her powers and all that fertility goddess thing but honestly i don’t blame her that much for not doing. She’s a mother who fought in a war when she was young and is worried sick for her daughter. Trying to shield her from the psychos taking advantage of in Olympus and the Underworld was her top priority. In the episode where Ares is hurt and Persephone heals him he immediately finds out that she is a fertility goddess and then tries to have sex with her by pretending to be dumb and illiterate.
4. It is really silly so many people said the maturity balance is way too off in LO so Rachel decided to just make hades more immature instead of making Persephone not act like a child. I would be horrified to live under a king who literally controls all the banks, wealth, media, and happily abuses his power constantly have the maturity level of a bratty, horny teenager. Oh, he’s also a CEO too (why) and and he acts like that? We already know how that goes irl, and his name is Donald Trump. I seriously don’t get how she’s not noticing some of the unintentional similarities these two share.
5. I have to figure the reason RS hasnt dealt with Apollo yet is because she doesn't know how to. To properly punish him would require putting him in Tartarus, but that would push her into rewriting too much of actual myth that a lot of people would critique her for it, so she seems be trying to set up a "redemption" of sorts with her comment of saying he has potential for it and having Leto be there to excuse his actions. She dug herself into a hole and is now desperately trying to find a way out.
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random-mha-thoughts · 4 years
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Mama’s Boy/Lover’s Boy (Bakugou x Reader)
Pairing: Bakugou x Fem!Reader
Genre: Fluff
Inspo: “Down for You” by Cosmo’s Midnight/Ruel
Summary: Bakugou hates being dragged to fancy parties for many reasons, but only one thing makes it all worth it.
Word Count: 2,322
Tags:  @yuki-osaki​ @liviitehe​ @iamsoftsodonttoucheume-blog​ @bunnythepipsqueak​
a/n:  I absolutely adore this picture, ngl that was the whole inspo for this.
It's not fair that a whole Katsuki exists while I'm bleeding out and my hormones are out of whack.  I'M A LOYAL SHOUTO HO, STAY IN YOUR LANE KATSUKI!  DON'T TAKE ADVANTAGE OF MY INSTABILITY LIKE THIS!
When I was at the last few paragraphs, I realized I would've loved to let Baku lose his shit and almost crash the entire thing like in Murphy's Law (man I loved writing that), but that wouldn't be good.  We love a good chaotic fluff monster.
This turned out a lot longer than I thought it would, but I really like how it turned out!  Definitely more fluff than I expected, but who's mad at that?  I'm bleeding out of my uterus and my mom and dad got me feverish and sick and I definitely needed this, so I KNOW you Baku stans are gushing at this too.  Thanks to @rubyred-imagines​ for one of the story beats here!
Spice might be incoming in the next day or two ;3  Not sure which character yet, but it's gonna happen!
"Babe, your face."
"What about it?!"
"Stop looking like you want to kill everyone."
"But I do!"
"I know you do, but don't look it."
Katsuki walks into the grand hall, muscular arm linked through his dazzling girlfriend's slender one.  He really doesn't want to be here; he hates these high-class, uptight gatherings, he hates this constricting tuxedo he has to wear, he hates how he barely knows anyone here, and he especially hates that he could've been on a date with her alone instead of being surrounded by these suffocating faces.
His lovely girlfriend announced this unfortunate outing a few weeks ago right before Katsuki was going to suggest the idea of having a date night, since they haven't had any quality alone time together in a while.  Her eyes lit up when she reported that she RSVP-ed for both of them to attend her company's fancy dinner.  And his plans were crushed like that.  He wanted to grumble and refuse, but she'd yell right back at him anyway, being the stubborn person she is.
She reminds him of his mother.
"You're just like my mom," Katsuki rolls his eyes.  "She used to drag me to her company dinners all the time, too."
"We won't stay for long, I promise," she pats his arm with her perfectly manicured fingernails.
"She used to say that too, and then we'd be out for hours," he mumbles to himself.
The girl looks up at him sweetly.  "And you'll be a good boyfriend and stay here with me the whole time, right?"
The blond growls low in his throat.  "I don't even belong here, you were invited, not me."
"Katsuki, you're my guest, of course you belong here."  She leans up to whisper in his ear, "Besides, you're more handsome than any of the guys here, show them all up."
That makes Katsuki smirk.  "Damn right I am, babe."
The couple find their table after an irritating amount of time.  Every few steps, some other pretentious stranger from his girlfriend's company sweeps over to exchange empty kisses and the same empty conversation.  Katsuki thinks it's some kind of script everyone practiced from, no one deviating from the script or else the entire simulation might fall apart.  Actually, he would like to say something inappropriate just to relish their horrified or disgusted faces, but he for the sake of his precious girlfriend, he keeps his mouth shut, teeth grit, and smile plastered each time he's introduced to a new face.
"Do you really know everyone here, babe?" Katsuki mutters in her ear as they finally approach the table.
"Not everyone," she hums in response, "I don't know most of the employees from the other two companies here, but I know the higher-ups through my boss."
He briefly remembers her saying this dinner was for a big merger deal between these three companies.  His girlfriend works tirelessly for her boss, usually taking on more than she can handle and coming home late most nights.  She'd been promoted from just being a regular company worker to being in a near-the-top position right under the main board managers.  He admires her dedication, but he's always worried about her health and energy level.  He may be a Pro Hero, but she's the real superhuman in the relationship.
Katsuki does the gentlemanly thing of pulling the chair out for his lady and pushing her back in before settling in his seat next to her, purposely shifting closer to her than the person on his other side.
"What manners your boyfriend has," one of the older ladies at the table coos at the couple.
"Thank you, I'm very grateful to have him," the girl smiles politely in response.
Katsuki's heart melts at the pride dripping from her voice as she compliments him.  "And I'm very lucky to have her."  It felt like the right thing to say as he squeezes her hand under the table and briefly glances into her eyes.
The two don't tear away from each other until someone else approaches his girlfriend and she stands to greet him briefly.  Katsuki surveys him in case he would do something ballsy to his girlfriend.
She turns and places a hand on Katsuki's shoulder.  "This is my boyfriend, Katsuki Bakugou."
Hell yeah, I am, you better not pull anything, dumbass.  He stands and shakes the other man's hand, polite but stiff.
"Nice to meet you.  Your girlfriend is honestly a powerhouse, she's amazing," the man gushes.
"Yes, I'm aware," the blond replies tersely.  He's on guard because he doesn't get a good vibe from this man.
Sure enough, he goes on a little too animatedly about how much his girlfriend does for the company and the rest of the company.  It comes off to Katsuki as fake and kiss-ass.  Nonetheless, his girlfriend accepts all the compliments like the graceful goddess she is.  He realizes this boy is one of his girlfriend's juniors as they descend into a conversation surrounding work and future projects.
After dismissing him, another group of his girlfriend's underlings rushes over with compliments and "Oh my gosh, senpai!  You look amazing!" and the like.  Each time, she would accept the praise, introduce him, before launching into more work-related subject matter that Katsuki learned to tune out eventually.
Honestly, he's annoyed at how everyone here is overwhelmingly toxic.  All the subordinates or peers are kiss-ups and her superiors are pretentious stick-up-their-asses that look down on his girlfriend.  He can't stand that his lover is surrounded by this atmosphere all day.  They don't know the genuine type of person she is, other than that she's kind and easy to walk all over.  No one seems like they care enough to carry genuine conversation, and he'd rather not tune into that energy.
Instead, Katsuki directs his attention to his lovely girlfriend.  Staring at her face, he recalls how painstakingly long it took for her to paint her face with makeup to look this flawless.  He's sure she would've had a mental breakdown while doing her eyes, especially putting on her eyeliner.  She was chanting to herself cutely to get them even, almost coaxing her shaky hands in front of the mirror to perform some kind of magic.  If he had done the wrong thing and hurried her or teased her habits, she would've unleashed all her anger on him.  He's learned that the hard way.  In the end, she was able to achieve this masterpiece on her face without making herself look like a completely different person, highlighting her natural beauty.
Scanning downward to her dress, he remembers fondly going shopping with her last weekend.  Her hair was in a topknot as she fumbled through the racks for a dress to wear.  She had dragged him along because she trusted his opinion on fashion choices.  While he would've liked for her to choose a scarlet red gown, Katsuki knew she'd look infinitely better in the sapphire blue number she's wearing now.  The skinny straps holding the dress up leads down to a not-too-plunging neckline that suits her shoulders, collarbone, and chest perfectly.  The dress cinches in at the waist to emphasize the figure he knows she has before falling straight down from her hips, and the mid-thigh slit on one side is subtly sexy without having her risk overexposure.  Finishing the entire outfit is a classic pair of nude pumps, a dainty gold necklace, matching dangling earrings, and a clutch matching her shoes.  Her hair is curled in waves cascading down her back with some stands hanging over one shoulder.
Katsuki can't help but smile unconsciously.  He can't wait to someday place the finishing touch she deserves: a simple but elegant ring on her left hand.
After all the formalities, the two finally sit down and start eating the dinner courses that have started gracing their place settings.
"I know you wanted to go out for date night today," his girlfriend begins gently, "But we can imagine this is a fancy restaurant with just us two, and everything else is just a backdrop."
"Shouldn't you be paying attention to what's going on?" Katsuki quirks an eyebrow.
She waves her hand and takes a refined sip of her wine.  "I've already heard them practice this speech too many times."
The devilish blond smirks and slinks closer to her.  "That's not something a good employee would do, is it?"
"I'm not working right now," she smoothly responds back, replicating his energy.
The organizer of the dinner finally takes the stage and starts his speech.  Katsuki keeps his gaze on his beautiful girlfriend, admiring her delicately picking and eating at her plate.  She's so precious to him, he doesn't care if he's making heart eyes and everyone can see.
When the speech finishes, his girlfriend's glass also empties and she indicates that she's going to get another.  It leaves him on edge, he hates being alone with all these strangers even for a few minutes.  He doesn't want to tell you this, but if one of these people try to small talk him without you here, he might actually break something.
"So, Bakugou, what do you do?" the same lady from earlier chirps at him.
He whips his head up.  For fuck's sake.  "I'm a...public safety worker of sorts."  He tries so hard to sound polite for his girlfriend's sake.  He also can't resist scanning the room for her as a safety reflex.  With all the shady people around, he doesn't trust that something bad won't happen.  And he also wants your comfort in these uncomfortable situations, but he'll never admit that either.
"Oh, I see."  The old lady seems satisfied with his tone, barely noticing his fidgeting as she launches into a whole story about her grandson wanting to do something like that, and all the tangents related to that.
Katsuki is relieved that he doesn't have to talk for the rest of the time, just nodding along  and humming to prove he's passively listening.  He finally spots his angel a few tables away, groaning internally that she was stopped by someone, keeping her from coming back to him.  It seems they were having a deep conversation at first, but suddenly the man cracks a smile and a joke that makes her cover her mouth in respectful laughter.
Katsuki's annoyance is cut through at her wholehearted display of emotions.  The entire night, he's been complaining about how much he hates everyone here, but it's only now he realizes how relaxed she looks in the entire situation.  She's completely in her element; he'd get easily drained by all the suffocating small talk, but her?  She thrives off this, she gains energy from it.  Although she comes home late, overworked and tired, she still faces every day with a smile on her face.  She makes it look so easy to talk to people, striking up and following conversations with everyone in the most endearing and poised way possible.
Katsuki smiles to himself, warmth washing over him.  Yes, just like his mom, but it makes his girlfriend all the more stunning and admirable in his eyes.
His girlfriend finally returns to the table, her recently-acquired glass already half empty.  "What did I miss?" she asks, buzzing with both energy and alcohol.
Katsuki leans his head on his palm.  "Nothing much."  He's still basking in the glow of his wonderful girlfriend, casually sipping his own wine absently.
She turns towards the clearing in the center of the room and takes his free hand.  "Let's go dance, babe!"
Any other time, Katsuki would have sternly declined, but he can't resist her today.  Without a single complaint, he rises and lets her drag him by their entwined hands to the dance floor.  Guiding his large hand around her waist as her one hand plants to his shoulder, she raises their joined hands and starts swaying them to the classic orchestral ensemble's upbeat performance.
The man doesn't know if it's the overwhelming feeling of pride he recently uncovered, or the way their bodies press together gently as he inhales her floral perfume, but he can't find the words to describe everything he wants to say. He settles on simply smiling warmly down at her as he whispers, "You're amazing, you know that?"
His girlfriend's cheeks flush and she erupts into giggles.  "What's with the sudden compliment?"
He shakes his head.  "I just realized it, that's all.  Just like my mom."
"You sure are a Mama's boy, aren't you?"
He scoffs at the idea.  "I love the old hag, but I'll never tell her that.  Besides, I'd say I'm whipped for a different woman in my life."  He brushes hair behind her ear, her earring glinting against the light, and places a kiss on her perfect temple.  "You look stunning tonight."
His girlfriend's eyes close in half-lidded affection.  "I'm sorry this isn't the perfect date night you wanted."
The blond leans his forehead on her's, slowing their pace to allow time to pass much more leisurely around them.  "I get to dance with you, I think that's a definite win."
"I guess so."
Katsuki comes to realize that he can be forced to come to all of these events.  All that matters is his enchanting lover and her smile.  When the night is over, he can't wait to let her take her heels off and carry her bridal style to their car as everyone watches in envy and awe.  He'd let her recline and rest her weary feet, telling her stories of his adventures of night outings with his mom to lull her to sleep in his passenger seat.  And then he'd carry her sleeping figure up to their bedroom and wake her gently so she can clean herself up and change into her cute pajamas, just so they can cuddle in each other's warmth until they fall asleep.
Maybe he's not a Mama's boy anymore.  More like he's a Lover's boy.
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houseofsannae · 3 years
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A Fistful of Munny - Extended End Notes
Notes for A Fistful of Munny that don’t fit within the character limit under the cut!
Please, read the fic before reading this post
           All right! Welcome to the extended notes, in which I go into excruciating detail over a bunch of stuff that doesn’t matter, because I like the sound of my own voice!
           Let’s start with some more broad stuff that didn’t make the exclusive end notes space. To do the Fistful of Dollars homage, I needed a place where I could have two villainous factions intersecting for Strelitzia to play against one another. After some brainstorming and asking for help from other people working on the Entwined in Trine Sorikai zine (and ultimately ignoring all their very good suggestions (Sorry, guys!)), I eventually realized that the Wasteland from Epic Mickey was a perfect place for this story, both in the sense of having mooks to destroy without Strels committing actual murder, and in the thematic sense of forgotten characters. There was just one issue.
           I hadn’t played Epic Mickey.
           And that is how I spent my summer, playing both Epic Mickey games. Both, because I was looking for a good location to set the story in in-world. Since the Wasteland is based on the Disney theme parks, I was hoping to find one based on Frontierland, their Western section. Such a location did exist – Disney Gulch – but only in the second game. Which meant I had to play Epic Mickey 2, as well. (The first one is a better game, but that’s not really the fault of the developers; they were not given the time they needed to make it as good as the first one. Here’s a video with trivia about the series that goes a little into the development.) I also needed to learn the Mad Doctor’s ultimate fate, since I wanted his Beetleworx/Blotworx to be one of the two villainous factions. In the game, depending on whether you chose the Paint (Paragon) or Thinner (Renegade) path, the Doc is either redeemed… or dead. Neither of which was helpful, so I had to invent.
           But let’s talk about characters and why I picked them in order. The short version for why these choices, at least on the Final Fantasy side, is set-up for later. Obviously I can’t go into detail why. Before that, let’s talk about the Beanie Baby.
           Chi is, as I hope you were able to guess, Strelitzia’s Chirithy. I’ve brought it up several times, but I personally do not like mascot characters. There are a few exceptions, but Chirithies are not one of them. Like I said, KHUx isn’t what happened in this AU, so you’ll have to wait for in-universe answers on why it’s a cat now. Out-of-universe reason is this was the only way I could make it palatable for myself. I arbitrarily decided on a gender for it because as a real cat, it would have a sex. Canonically Chirithies appear to be genderless, and in Japanese refer to themselves with the gender-neutral (but masculine-leaning) boku. I would’ve left Chi that way, save for the fact that he’s a completely normal cat now. (And before you ask, no, not every real cat that appears in KHΨ from this point on is a Chirithy.)
           As for Strelitzia herself, it’s hard for me to pick up a character’s voice when they’re… not voiced. Intonation and cadence do a lot for me mimicking the way a character talks, so it’s a bit more difficult when they don’t technically speak. I tried for a mix between Sora and Kairi, while still keeping her defining character traits of being shy, but also impulsive.
           You may notice that while she’s started remembering faces, if not names, the Player’s name and face still eludes her, despite her (canonical. Deal with it.) crush on them. There is a story reason for this, and will become clear once Luxu takes centre stage.
           The name “Jane” was chosen with more consideration than just “Jane Doe” being the standard name in (at least my corner of) the English-speaking world for a woman of unknown identity. See, the Man With No Name actually has three names. In A Fistful of Dollars, he is referred to (by one character in one scene, once) as “Joe”. “Joan” might have been a more clear homage, but I figure Jane makes sense. And as you might guess, in the next fic, Strels will be going by a different name, still not her own. She’ll remember her name… eventually.
           One might think I could’ve picked any old Cid, and one would be wrong for reasons I can’t explain yet. In fact, I can’t explain much of anything surrounding him yet. What I can say is no, Cidney Aurum is not dead, she’s just not related to Cid Sophiar in this fic verse. An unfortunate consequence of where I wanted to put each of them in the narrative; making them not be related was the only way it made any sense, geographically speaking.
           Hyperion on the other hand, I can talk about. He’s one of the Gremlins in Epic Mickey, and… wait, first things first. Gremlins are from an abandoned Disney film based on a Roald Dahl book, itself based on the cryptids that supposedly haunted airplanes and caused them to malfunction, the earliest known written-down mention of the concept being from the 1920s. The film never got made, but the designs Disney would have used were adapted into a second printing of Dahl’s book, and they were later used in Epic Mickey. Hyperion is, like the publishing imprint that Disney owns, named after a street that Walt Disney used to live on. In-game, Hyperion is in Bog Easy (based on the Haunted Mansion), not Disney Gulch, but his name stuck out to me as being particularly fun, so I picked him instead of trying to figure out what Gremlins actually are in the Gulch (they have names in the files of Epic Mickey 2, but not in the actual game, so it would have been a hunt).
           Regardless of where the setting ended up, for the second villainous faction, I was always going to plop down the good old Don. More things I can’t talk about. For everything FF7, know that I’m always going to be pulling from a mix of the original game, Remake, and Machinabridged. Hence, Corneo’s outfit is a mix of his original and Remake designs (which basically just means he’s wearing blue jeans instead of brown). I didn’t think bringing in his three lieutenants from Remake was necessary, especially since this was supposed to be a kind-of small operation.
           Leslie is picked up and dropped from Remake pretty much unchanged. I needed someone to do the murders Strels couldn’t, and even if he’s not a complete asshole, he’s still mostly an asshole. Have we ever seen small, Materia-like balls used to cast magic before…?
           Onto the fun bits, which is the Disney characters. We’ll start with Percy, who is from a Goofy short called “How to Ride a Horse”, from 1950. And that’s about it. The conceit in Wasteland is that all of the Toons there were basically actors, and they wound up in Wasteland if they were forgotten (that’s not exactly correct, but I’m generalizing). This is interesting, since two of the Toons in Epic Mickey are Horace Horsecollar and Clarabelle Cow, both of whom… are residents of Disney Town in Kingdom Hearts, having shown up in Birth by Sleep. So that’s an interesting continuity snarl that I’m going to just ignore.
           Persephone and Pluto, on the other hand, are from an earlier short called “The Goddess of Spring”, from 1934. It was one of the projects Disney tried as practice for Snow White. If you’re about to protest that his name should be Hades, not Pluto, then you’re going to need a time machine so you can tell them back in the 30s. The Goddess of Spring is a musical, in the sense that every single line is sung. Watch it for yourself. There’s a video with better quality floating around YouTube, but for some reason it’s the French dub. And that’s why both of them sing most of their lines. I tried matching the meter of their actual parts, but Persephone’s doesn’t actually follow a syllabic pattern that I could make out. I eventually gave up and just gave her the meter from the start of the short. Pluto’s was easier to manage (and more consistent).
           The skeletons are Disney veterans, presumably the same ones from “The Skeleton Dance” (1929), but more specifically they’re mimicking what they did in “The Mad Doctor” (1933), the first appearance of our other villain. They’re fun.
           The original Mad Doctor was supposedly named “Dr. XXX”, according to the name on his door. This was before the modern film rating system was put in place; it was a different time. In the original short, the Mad Doctor kidnaps Pluto (the dog) with the intent of cutting him in half and putting his front half on a chicken For Science!, and Mickey follows him to his castle to rescue the purloined pooch. The short wasn’t a musical in the same vein as “The Goddess of Spring”, but… the Mad Doctor’s only spoken lines were a song (aside from evil cackling). While I had already decided to do the “Toons that sang in their short can only communicate through song” with Persephone and Pluto before starting on Epic Mickey 2, I hilariously discovered that the game developers had done the exact same gag with the Mad Doctor, most of his lines in the game being sung. (In Epic Mickey there were no fully voiced lines, so he speaks as normally as anyone else does). Which made it easier to write his songs here, since I could just rewrite his songs from the game. I used to write alternate lyrics for songs back in high school, so this was an interesting trip back in time for me. They were stuck in my head for weeks afterwards, but it was worth it.
           I believe that’s everything for the characters. Let’s talk about Keyblades.
           It irks me that three people in KHUx have the same Keyblade. Ephemer, Skuld, and Strelitzia all have variations of Starlight. Now, in KHΨ, there is only one Starlight, and it belongs to Luxu, so I’m going to have to decide on different Keyblades for each of them. (Ephemer’s has already been decided, and I haven’t started brainstorming for Skuld yet. No I do not need suggestions, thank you). Pixie Petal bears a noted (by KHWiki) resemblance to one of Marluxia’s alternate scythes, so that tangential connection was enough for me. Both siblings have flower-themed Keyblades – it makes sense to me.
           You might notice a few disparities in the magic. These are on purpose, and will eventually make sense. And that’s all I can say on that at the moment. ;)
           Oh, yes, one important thing I probably should have said on the main notes: I’m not going for a realistic depiction of amnesia here. Anything I got right was entirely accidental, and I’m fairly certain there’s not much. There might be a story reason for why it works the way it does… and it might be the same reason why other people from KHUx have or had amnesia in the present day…
           You know what’s funny? Although Orcuses look more impressive than Invisibles, their stats in Days are actually worse. I’m fairly sure that this is because the only time we see an Orcus, it’s actually an illusion cast over Xion so that Roxas will fight her to the death. There are no other stats for them (according to KHWiki), since they’ve never been used elsewhere.
           A friendly reminder that Apprentice Xehanort invented the term “Heartless”, which was why Aqua didn’t know what to call them until Mickey told her. Thus, nobody from the era of the Keyblade War should know the term “Heartless” without being told by someone in present day. “Darkling” was the term they used instead. I’m fairly certain KHUx ignores the continuity on this (so why should we trust its continuity for anything else, hmm?)
           I think that covers everything! Or at least everything I’m willing to share at this point. If you’ve read this far, thank you! I appreciate your dedication! ^_^
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sondepoch · 4 years
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Day 7
10 Days (Jumin Han x Reader)
You didn't expect to find yourself locked in an engagement to Chairman Han, but with your own mother forcing you into it, you have no way of denying her. But as time continues and things change, you begin to develop affections for your fiance's son: Jumin Han. But the sad truth is that there's nothing either of you can do to stop the marriage, and you only have these 10 days before your future becomes reality. 10 days with Jumin Han.
Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4 | Day 5 | Day 6 | Day 7 | Day 8 | Day 9 | Day 10 | ✔
MASTERLIST
You don't talk about it.
"Let me forget," You'd whispered into Jumin's ear yesterday as he hovered over you. His body was naked and his eyes were filled with desire, but he still had the restraint enough to ask if you were 'sure about this.' "Make it so that I only think of you."
At the time, you'd said the words in reference to the activities the two of you were about to partake in, but Jumin seems to have taken them to heart. For the rest of the day—even when you both were out of bed and awkwardly trying to cook yourselves a romantic dinner—Jumin never left your side.
Indeed, for that brief time, all that mattered was that he was with you. Smiling at you. Loving you.
But that can't last.
You sigh, staring out the windowed wall of Jumin's penthouse. On your second day here, you'd spent a morning similar to this one: just staring out, watching taxis go by, the early-morning people move about, lights from buildings far off flicker on and off. It feels somewhat surreal to have so much going on with zero repercussions to you.
It makes you feel detached.
"My love?" Jumin asks, his voice still carrying traces of his morning drowsiness. Your first days here, the man had been nothing short of pristine in the mornings, maintaining his businessman facade of perfection. At last, though, he's allowed you to see the real him: bedhead, pajamas, and all.
"I didn't expect you to get up," You call over your shoulder, throwing him a bashful smile. "You sleep like a brick, you know."
You almost laugh at the startled expression on Jumin's face at your words, but settle for only breaking a smile. Your hands hold a rather large cup of coffee, dangerously close to overspilling, and you don't want to cause a mess.
Jumin finally chuckles, walking toward you slowly before wrapping his arms around your waist from behind. You can feel his sleepiness in the way his hands slowly rub your sides, quietly seeking the warmth from you that he had when he was still under the covers. "In my defense, four in the morning is an hour that even I am unaccustomed to rising at." Jumin hesitates, before continuing. "What has you up this early?"
"I wanted to watch the sunrise," You confess. It's true. Ever since you saw this glorious wall: composed entirely of glass panels polished so cleanly that one almost doesn't notice them, you've been wanting to watch the sun greet you along with the city as it rises from its own slumber.
"You're two hours early, my love."
"Well, I also wanted to see the city." You sip your coffee, leaning into Jumin's touch when he begins pressing soft, open-mouthed kisses to your neck.
"Fond of landscapes?" Jumin asks, trailing his lips up to your ear.
"I suppose? I've only ever had the opportunity to look at cityscapes in all my travels, really, but I have always wanted to see a natural 'scape. A nice, countryside hill, maybe. Or a field of flowers—like the ones in the movies."
"Oh?" Jumin asks, pausing his kisses. He steals a taste of the coffee in your cup, licking his lips before continuing. "How is it that such an accomplished businesswoman such as yourself has never seen something simple as a field of flowers? Don't you fly over them all the time during your travels?"
You shake your head, wondering what business trips Jumin is going on that brings his planes close enough to see such sights. "My flights take me from city to city, and I was born and raised here. I've never actually seen anything other than a cityscape."
"A pity," Jumin mumbles, finally ceasing his ministrations and opting to rest his head on top of yours. "Do you enjoy this sight, at the very least? I purchased this penthouse apartment specifically for the view."
You nod. "I've actually been in this apartment once before, when someone else owned this penthouse. A classmate, actually. It was stunning even then; I've always wanted to see how it's changed." A light laugh escapes your lips, and you sway in Jumin's embrace. "This city has aged well."
You can feel the smile on Jumin's lips.
"Let's paint it."
You raise your eyebrows, wondering if Jumin is joking. But, if anything, his expression looks even sterner than before—the previous sleepiness now gone from his eyes. He glances down at you, a faint smile on his lips.
"What?" He asks at your shocked expression. "We have two whole hours before the sun rises, and you said you wanted to watch the city. What better way to ensure that the eye observes everything than to test its accuracy by hand? I'll even help you. We can paint it together."
Before you can open your mouth to respond, Jumin is already elaborating on his own idea, growing more eager about it with each passing second. You've heard from his father that he gets like this, from time to time. Usually, it applies to his (cat-related) business pursuits, but you suppose it's possible that the man has an interest in art as well.
You smile.
Oh, who are you kidding?
You know the real reason why he's so eager to make a painting with you.
It's for the memories.
A physical memory, a tangible reminder, that the two of you were once together, mutual love stroked into the canvas as an eternal token to you. It's not a painting of the city that has yet to wake up, but a portrait of your relationship. Dark but beautiful. Shrouded by shadow but only to the untrained eye. Unseen by most but very much there.
You smile, finishing your cup of coffee as Jumin quickly sets up a canvas, a stool, paints, and all the other tools one could possibly need for painting. A part of you wonders where on earth he salvaged these objects from, surprisingly high-quality materials for someone who's job is their hobby, but you don't question it.
The almost giddy smile on Jumin's face only evokes a similar enthusiasm in you, as you join him in beginning to sketch the cityscape outline.
In truth, the whole process is a bit of a mess. You argue for a few minutes over what the four bounds of the view will be, on the sizes of the buildings, and on the shading cues. But the longer you work, the better your cooperation is. There comes a point where you're not even talking, pencils filling the silence where words are absent.
By the time you two have finished your preliminary outline, the markings on the canvas almost resemble the actual cityscape, and neither of you can hold back your smiles at the sight.
Lovely.
Jumin finally steps back after fixating on the angle of a particularly tall window, sitting on the stool as he tries to evaluate what needs further work before the two of you can continue to paint.
"I'm not sure how the details on the tops of these buildings will carry when we paint over this," He muses. "It might be worth our while to focus more on the areas that are better illuminated, like the streets with their lampposts and whatnot."
"That's fine," You mumble, walking forward to obscure his vision of the painting. You loop your arms around his neck, smiling sweetly at him. Sketching has been fun, no doubt, but your right hand hurts a bit from gripping the pencil for so long.
Jumin only strains his neck to look above you.
"Also, I feel like we went a bit overboard with the stars. It's probably better to draw in the ones that are most visible, and then the less bright ones can be added in with a dulled version of the—"
"It's fine," You mumble, interrupting Jumin with a pout. When he opens his mouth again to speak, you silence him with a long kiss.
It's the first one of the day, you realize. Last night, you'd barely had time to breathe with the vigor at which Jumin was kissing you, lips constantly colliding in a desperate summon for more. Now, though, you're able to savor it. Enjoy the softness of his lips, the way they gently mold into yours.
Amidst the silence of the penthouse and the silence of the city, it truly feels like you two are the only ones alive in the world, every star in the sky you just sketched watching over the both of you as you continue to kiss.
"Ready?" Jumin mumbles into the kiss, pulling you closer to him by your hips. You almost step back to ask him Ready for what? when the answer comes as he lifts your body up, placing you on top of his lap.
He lets out a light chuckle at your momentary disbelief at what just happened.
Instantly, you grip the man's shoulders for support, not trusting the small stool he's sitting on to fully support both of you, and Jumin settles his hands about your waist. Relax, he seems to be saying, though his lips are on yours. I won't let you fall.
Gradually, you begin to melt into the kiss, forgetting the instability of the stool and the exposure of the window and everything else except for him. In this position, you actually get to look down at him as you make out, and it feels glorious. In turn, Jumin looks up at you and kisses you like you're a goddess, worshiping you with every time his lips ghost over your skin. The position gives him complete access to your neck, he soon finds, and he sets to littering the area with every mark his tongue can produce, leaving no part of you his lips can touch unclaimed.
It's not long before both your tops are discarded on the floor, lost in the heat of the moment.
The kisses, once chaste and slow, turn fervent with desire, and Jumin lifts your body like a doll, discarding your remaining clothing without even raising his lips from your skin.
He takes his time with you, savoring the moment. And despite your quiet pleas for him to stop teasing you, you love every second of it—the man already so well-versed in the language of your body, picking up its every cue.
And before long, the sun is beginning to peek into the sky and your wishes of watching the sunrise alongside finish your painting of the cityscape fade, but none of that matters because in the moment you're with Jumin and it's hot and it's passionate and it's breathtaking and you never want to let go.
Yet even as he continues pulling your body close to him, letting you feel the outline of his muscles, you know that, in the end, what you want doesn't matter.
But wrapped in Jumin's arms as he continues sucking and biting in all the right spots, you allow yourself to forget that. Just a little bit, you tell yourself, closing your eyes, allowing all thoughts to drift away so you can simply enjoy the moment. Let me forget about everything, just for a little while.
Surely you deserve that much?
MASTERLIST
Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4 | Day 5 | Day 6 | Day 7 | Day 8 | Day 9 | Day 10 |  ✔
Word count: 1.9k
Notes: It is currently 7 in the morning and I have not slept since my afternoon nap yesterday and I still have a oneshot to write, a quiz to take, a meeting to attend, a work out to do, all my hw to finish, and I HaVEnT stUdIeD fOR tHe qUiZ yET SEnD HeLP
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Next Update: 5/09/20
I do not own the rights to Mystic Messenger or any of the characters within it.
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Still no title. I hate titles. But here’s Part One, Part Two, and Part Three of my “We dated in high school, and now you’ve moved back to town” AU, and this is Part Four. More tomorrow!
In Dana Scully’s experience, the people from a person’s past have a way of seeming larger-than-life when seen through the rearview mirror. The second grade teacher who yelled a bit too becomes a pinch-faced witch who held an entire classroom of children in constant terror. The beloved softball coach takes on the qualities of a benevolent goddess, her face wreathed in golden sunlight, with never a bad thing to say about any of her players. The high school football star who’d been a little too full of himself is remembered as the personification of malice, a dark entity that stalked hapless classmates around the halls between classes. 
And the boy you honestly thought you’d be with forever, before you managed to completely screw things up, becomes the embodiment of everything you could possibly want in a partner, the gold standard no other man could ever live up to.
Dana reminds herself of this as she sits in her favorite tea room, waiting for Mulder, shredding a napkin to pieces as she tries to master her nerves. He’s thirty-two now, she thinks. You haven’t seen him in fourteen years. You haven’t talked to him in ten. You knew him as a child and he’s a man now.    
But the Fox Mulder who strides through the door, eyes anxiously sweeping over the tables, is every inch the reincarnation of Apollo that Dana’s generous memory has made him out to be. Physically, at least, he’s already living up to her expectations.
It only takes him a second to locate her, and as their eyes lock, the room around them disappears from Dana’s view. She stands slowly as he weaves through the tables to get to her, never taking his eyes off of hers, and when he’s a foot from her he freezes, eyes raking over her hungrily from head to toe.
Jesus. 
He could at least try to censor his expression. Dana’s entire body flushes as he takes her in, and she doesn’t miss the way his eyes linger on her empty left ring finger. She checks his, as well. The only thing Missy had been willing to tell her about what Mulder looks like now was that he hadn’t been wearing a wedding ring when she’d seen him. He’s not wearing one today, either.
“Dana.”
His voice is just a bit deeper than she remembers and it sends shivers down her spine. They stare wordlessly at each other, the air between them alive with tension... and then, quite suddenly, Mulder grins and reaches out, pulling Dana against him in a crushing embrace that she joyfully returns.
He releases her, holding her at arm’s length, and they smile like idiots at each other. “It’s so good to see you,” he says.
“You, too,” Dana replies. She gestures up to the counter. “Can I get you something to drink?”
Mulder reaches for her hand. “In a second. Just let me look at you a minute, okay?” His smile practically leaps off his face. “You look wonderful, Dana.”
“So do you,” she manages, but it’s an understatement. She looks wonderful? He looks practically edible. It should be criminal to walk around looking that good at thirty-two. Though, the way he’s gazing at her is doing wonders for her self-esteem. “Have you looked your fill yet?”
“Never,” he says, and she flushes again. “Let me get the drinks, okay? You still like Earl Grey?” At her nod, he heads to the counter, and Dana sits, her head swimming and her heart hammering in her chest.
Mulder returns with their drinks, and in between sips, they share the bare bones of their lives these days. She tells him about her new job as a thoracic surgeon at George Mason, how she’s staying with her parents until she’s settled in at work and has time to go house hunting. He tells her about the practice he’d set up nearby two years ago when he decided he didn’t like the over-scheduling of working at a larger office with other psychologists. They update each other on their respective families, on Ahab’s retirement and Mulder’s father’s decision to move to Massachusetts. 
But in the middle of telling Dana about his sister Samantha’s work with the National Parks out in Colorado, Mulder suddenly stops speaking and looks down. Dana, knowing what’s coming, braces herself.
“Dana... I told myself that if you wanted me to know, you would have told me, but I have to know--”
“You want to know why I cut off contact.” There’s no point in beating around the bush and Dana knows it.
“Yeah,” says Mulder quietly. “I’m sorry to bring it up so soon, I told myself I wouldn’t, but... why, Dana?”
Dana looks down into her lap. Four years ago, before writing him, she’d spent months preparing herself for this conversation, deciding how to word it all, how to tell him the truth in a way that paints everyone involved in the best light. Mulder had always admired Dana’s father, and Ahab himself has long since admitted that the way he’d acted had not been his finest hour. She’d hate to have Mulder’s opinion of him be irreparably damaged.
And, of course, Dana worries about what Mulder will think of her. The Mulder she’d known would have been sympathetic and understanding of the choices Dana has made... but, as she keeps reminding herself, he might not be that person anymore.
There’s only one way to find out.
Dana reaches down beside her chair, into her purse, and takes out her wallet. She opens it to the first photo and slides it across the table to Mulder, who accepts it, looking mystified. 
“This,” she tells him, “is my daughter, Emily.”
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skekheck · 4 years
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30 Days of the Dark Crystal Challenge
Decided to do poultry-blocks Dark Crystal challenge because it looks like a lot of fun to do. However I’m cheating and I wrote all of this within a couple of days. Warning: fairly large post with pictures and fan ramblings. 
EDIT: I FORGOT TO INCLUDE DAY 16 WHOOP. It’s in there now. 
Day 1. Your favorite skeksis
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Idiot, feral, wildman who stole my heart. How? Why? Who knows. *chef kisses* Beautiful stinky bastard.
Day 2: Your favorite gelfling
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Bless her and her skeksis cosplay. What a queen.
Day 3: A character that you love that everyone seems to hate.
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The tides are changing for her it seems. I think people are appreciating her more, but she still faces her fair share of controversies. Not that I don’t think it warrants discussion nor am I excusing her actions. But she’s way more complex than what a lot of people are making her out to be.
Day 4: A character that you hate that everyone seems to love. 
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Hate is a strong word as I don’t hate him, but I don’t really care for Amri. He feels like a bootleg Deet mixed with a little bit of Kylan and Gurjin. Wasted potential and honestly shouldn’t have been the POV for Tides of the Dark Crystal. Seems I’m alone in this opinion, though. Maybe the book warrants rereading?
Day 5: Movie or TV Show? Why?
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TV Show by miles! I think the series accomplishes way more than the movie does, like establishing lore,  better written characters, and a more engaging story. I actually cared about the gelfling and it really fleshed out the skeksis in an interesting way outside of “oh they do evil things because they’re evil!”. Doesn’t mean it does everything right, but I’ll get into that later.  
Day 6: Something you wish that happened in the series but didn’t.
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Just a few things. I miss the gelfling intermingling with the mystics, particularly urVa. I love everything that happens with urGoh and skekGra, but some of the bonding moments Naia had with urVa are precious and I wish we had more of that. I also wished the gelfling got the message out to the other clans like they did in the book where Kylan dreametched their message onto the Santuary Tree’s blossoms and scattered them all throughout Thra. I also wished Tavra and Onica were an established couple, but maybe it’s not too late for that.
Day 7: Favorite gelfling clan
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The Sifa! It was the Dousan at first, but the more I learned about the Sifa the more I grew to love the clan. If I were a gelfling I would probably be a sifa myself LOL. 
Day 8: You opinion on Aughra
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She’s a fun and fascinating character! Aughra puts a unique spin on the whole beautiful, wise earth goddess trope by making her ugly, old, and cranky. She’s also a character with her own flaws, even having a mini arc about neglecting to take care of her planet and doing whatever she can to make amends. Not to mention she’s wildly entertaining. Much love for Aughra!
Day 9: Skeksis or Gelfling?
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Both!
Day 10: Your opinion on podlings?
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They’re just funky little potato people who just want to have fun, dance, and drink all day and I respect them for that. They’re great. Also Hup exists and he’s just an amazing character so there’s that.
Day 11: Your The Dark Crystal unpopular opinion
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I think it’s okay to sympathize with the skeksis as long as one is not excusing their actions. I see a lot of people say you shouldn’t because they’re evil and they commit atrocities. Which, yes, it’s true, but I think both can co-exist. I mean, skekTek’s whole cycle of abuse is written very sympathetically yet the show doesn’t coddle him. It shows the ugliness of his character and what happens when someone isn’t capable of cutting off from said cycle. Also the writers consider the skeksis as tragic characters due to their broken nature so I don’t think it’s wrong to be a little sympathetic. But once again with great emphasis, sympathy is fine as long as their actions are judged. They are awful bastards and no amount of sympathy will change that. 
Day 12: Something you dislike about the series
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I think the stuff I don’t like about the show is a result of its pacing and cluttered cast. There are so many stories going on and while I liked how they handled it for the most part, you can also see how the show rushes to get through all of them. A lot of important moments where a character should reflect or something that should simmer more is pushed aside for the next thing. Maybe if the show was given more episodes and time to breath it would have been better off. 
Day 13: Most disappointing thing about the series
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SkekMal and urVa didn’t have enough screen time and we were honestly ROBBED. 
Day 14: Your OTP
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Speaking of which... . Its a crack ship, but I’m all about that allegory for self love (and I just want these two to be alive). Day 15: Favorite quote
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Listed plenty of my favorite quotes before, but I’ll pick this one:
“ Life is my paint. Death is my canvas”
Day 16: Rate the skeksis from least favorite to favorite OR rate the gelfling from lest favorite to favorite [or both!]
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And if you want my gelfling hot takes, here’s this list (just backwards in context to this post)
Day 17: Opinion on Raunip?
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Raunip is a fantastic character. I loved him in Creation Myths and I can’t wait to see what role he’d play in the resistance. And I absolutely love the parallels between him and the urskeks it’s great. 
Day 18: A character that is most similar to you.
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I too am a dark-dwelling gremlin who constantly forgets where I put things and crack a few dark jokes at my expense. 
Day 19: Which character do you strongly dislike, why?
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This is entirely based on the books, but I find Mera to be awful.  I think it’s because she’s so fake and condescending? When Naia arrived in Sami Thicket, she was acting nice and polite but when the Drenchen asked her why the skeksis never visited Sog Mera responded  “It’s only worth counting what’s valuable”. She continuously disrespects her by calling her pet names even when Naia became maudra. It doesn’t come off as cute, it’s gross. I don’t recall Mera ever apologizing for any of the shit she did to Naia... or Kylan for that matter. She was a pretty neglectful step-mother to him. She doesn’t have an excuse being busy with Maudra stuff because Laesid was a kickass mom to her kids. So in conclusion, fuck this bitch.
Day 20: What do you like so much about the Dark Crystal?
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The better question what’s not to love about the Dark Crystal? It has amazing creature design, an expansive world that feels real and alien from our own, having complex and interesting characters as well as villains, the fact that it relies heavily on practical effects a.k.a puppetry... . There’s nothing like it and that’s what makes it so wonderful and unique. It needs to be appreciated more. 
Day 21: Favorite music piece from the soundtrack?
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Can’t beat that opening theme. 
Day 22: Your opinion on the sequel comics [Power/Beneath the Dark Crystal]
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They have cool concepts and ideas, but they’re not written well. Power is just the movie if it was put into a blender and shredded and ignoring a large portion of established lore for the sake of plot. And Beneath is just a generic fantasy story with the Dark Crystal logo slapped on it. 
Day 23: Which character from the YA novels/comics do you wish we would see more of?
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There are plenty of characters that are a given to appear in the series at some point (skekSa, skekLi, urSan, etc). And of course I want to see them, but I really hope Periss shows up (and his brother too). He is one of my favorite characters from the book series and we could use some more Dousan rep!
Day 24: Your opinion on the Age of Resistance comic?
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I have yet to read the comics. I’m waiting on them to be part of a collection so I don’t have to buy all of the volumes at once (I prefer owning physical copies). I’ve heard good things about them, especially the story with Hup and the current Mayrin arc. I’m excited to get my hands on them. 
Day 25: The best moment/scene in the series?
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There are a lot of great moments, but Rian and Ordon’s fight with skekMal is still my favorite in the entire series. The "Speak For the Dead” scene is a close second.
Day 26: The death of a character that hurt you the most?
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He did not deserve this. Fuck you, skekMal. 
Day 27: Your favorite episode from the series?
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It’s got to be 4. Not just because a number of my favorite characters debut in this episode, but it’s an important one for the plot. Stakes are being raised, we’re seeing set ups to major story elements and character arcs, and events that impact the rest of the series. It also has a handful of my favorite character moments and interactions. 
Day 28: Your favorite non-skeksis and non-gelfling character? Why?
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I’ve come to realize the reasons why I love urVa are the same as why I love skekMal (incredibly appropriate I might say). There’s enough information about him that we get a good understanding on who he is as a character, but still mysterious enough that there’s interest in wanting to know more. Much like his skeksis, he’s unique from the other mystics and thus giving him unique experiences that are fun to speculate. However, the YA novels are responsible for my current fondness of him. 
Day 29: Do you like the urru and skeksis apart or like them as urSkeks together?
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A main theme of the Dark Crystal is unity and balance. The main conflict of the franchise are the skeksis, the broken fragments of their urskek self who, according to the writers, “...[have] a dire need for the qualities they lack”. Their only salvation is to become urskeks again and unfortunately many of the pairs never achieve this.  They’re basically a giant allegory for the self and self-love. While we don’t really know what they were like when they were an urskek (aside from SilSol perhaps), we can get some understanding when we look at their pairs and see what traits they share. Speculation is also fun! So as much as I love the skeksis and mystics as individuals, I prefer them to be whole again.
Day 30: What are your wishes for a possible season 2?
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A whole bunch of things. I want to see them explore more about the mystics and their lifestyle, having Raunip play a big part in the plot, seeing more of skekSa’s fall from grace from her perspective, the beginning of the Garthim Wars, and more. 
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matildainmotion · 3 years
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My Cure for the Blues, thanks to my Daughter who Loves Pink: What Might Yours Be?
I am blue. I don’t know why. There are many blatant reasons for blueness in the world right now - more than there have ever been in my lifetime - yet still I don’t know why. If I did I wouldn’t be blue. I would be sad with purpose. Or angry. Or upset. But what I have is a slightly pointless feeling. Being blue is vague. Vaguely low. A big wash of a dark colour, devoid of detail.
Meanwhile my four year old daughter is definitely not blue - she’s pink. “What’s your favourite colour today?” She asks, everyday. I find it a hard question to answer with accuracy, perhaps because of my vague blue feeling. She does not: “What’s yours?” I say. “Pink,” she replies with absolute certainty, “And gold.” Another favourite question of hers, that she poses most evenings at supper: “What are you the fairy of?” The grown-ups round the table come up with various quips in answer: Daddy is the fairy of mashed potato; Granny is the fairy of hearing aids; Mummy is the fairy of tiredness. 
“And you, Tenar?” 
“I’m the fairy of beauty, sparkly things and everything I like,” she replies, while skipping up and down beside the dinner table, because the fairy of beauty is much too busy to pay any heed to the fairy of meal time manners. Her favourite Christmas present was a gold princess gown, which she dons daily, and Snow White-like, checks in the mirror to see if she looks suitably fair. She wants to grow her hair down to just above her bottom. 
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This all comes as rather a shock to me because I was not a pink girl - my favourite colour as a child was navy blue, no pastels please. I refused to wear dresses. I had a party boiler suit- dark blue - for birthdays. I climbed trees, ran along garden walls and lived in trousers. I was inconsolable when my father once brought me back a kilt as a present from a trip to Scotland - imagine being given a skirt! Despite being told this was a skirt meant for men, despite the photos in the family photo drawer of my father, a proud soldier in a Black Watch regiment kilt, I remained unconvinced. I have stayed relatively consistent in my tom-boyness into adult life. As a mother my children rarely see me in dresses, hardly ever in make up. Mummy has long hair under her armpits and on her legs but often shaves her head.
Given the version of womanhood I have presented to my daughter, I assumed  her predilection for pink princesses was a result of the vicious marketing to which children, especially girls, are subjected - the bright pink magazines with plastic toy lipsticks and hair curlers sellotaped onto the front, placed at just her height on the wracks near the supermarket check out. This is just one example of the many things about the world that make me blue so, when her pink princess phase began, I set to work. 
I had already consistently switched pronouns around in books - mostly from he to she - or had discussions with my daughter about the absence of active female heroines.  More recently, her questions such as “Why is it girls that have long hair?” Or, “Which one of these princesses is the most beautiful?” lead to long discussions about the history of fashion, gender as a colourful spectrum, and how peacocks are just one example of a species in which it is the boy that gets to wear the gorgeous feathers. None of this seems to make the slightest difference to my daughter’s commitment to pink, but two developments recently have eased my concerns and made me think that there is more than 21st Century patriarchal capitalism at work in her choices, and that the pink thing - or the thing for pink -that is sustaining her spirits through this hard time might actually contain within it a clue to the medicine I need for my blues.  
Firstly, last weekend, after a day on which I had had to work and so had resorted to letting Tenar watch Disney’s Cinderella (the 1950 animation) she ran back and forth during supper and told us her version of the story. In her rendition, she played the part of the fairy godmother, and having magically rustled up a stunning dress for Cinderella, she thought she should be the one who got to enjoy it. So it was she, the fairy godmother, who danced the night away with Cinders. And what of the prince? No princess for him - he was left with a slice of pizza. After three nights of dancing together, Cinderella married Tenar, the fairy godmother, and they lived together happily ever after, with an ever-expanding wardrobe of fabulous dresses. The prince married the pizza, and was, apparently, content with his lot. 
I was reassured by this that my daughter is in no way either a passive consumer of pink-ness or likely to become an easy victim of social norms. Soon after marrying Cinderella, she came up with the second thing which allayed my concerns, and made me question my fast feminist assumptions as to what is at work in her psyche. She announced, seemingly out of the blue (that colour again), that one day she wants to acquire a white, calm, mare.  
We have some chickens, but on the whole we are not an animal-focussed family. No cats. No dogs. Certainly nothing as large and demanding as a horse. My daughter accepts the fact that owning a horse is a big deal - you need a stable, a meadow, and various other bits of kit, so she is going to be patient - not a quality that comes to her easily - and wait, but it is important that she gets the mare when she is still young, she says, by the time she is twelve. By then her hair should have grown to her full desired length and both she and the white mare can ride over the fields with their locks streaming behind them. She is also keen on a cart to go with it, which will, she says, make shopping much easier and less boring. She will look after it very well: she will dress it in garlands of flowers, feed it hay and apples and exercise it daily. Its stable will be right beside the pink, gold and violet-painted bedroom of her own, into which she will also have moved by the time she turns twelve.  
I am not entirely sure from where this horse has ridden into her mind. She has a sticker book of white unicorns, but much of the dream seems to be of her own invention. I am not about to surrender to an essentialist narrative and suggest that all little girls harbour a horsey dream - how could I when I myself never have?- but it has touched me, this sudden passion for a white horse, the oddly mature way in which she discusses the details of it, and it makes me think there is more than magazine marketing at work in her.  
My husband plays Tenar the theme tune to White Horses, the 1960s TV series, whilst I remember all the stories I know that feature a woman and a horse. One of my favourite Ted Hughes’ tales concerns the first woman complaining to God that she is bored - she wants a playmate. After trying out various creations and getting it horribly wrong, God finally gets it right when, out of the crests of the waves, he conjures a horse, who rides ashore to greet the waiting woman. Going further back in time, there are the tales of Epona and Rhiannon, Celtic horse goddesses which I know of thanks to mother-maker, Jackie Singer, who made a brilliant show about them that explored women’s power and sexuality - both its repression and liberation. Rhiannon in particular, who can outride any man with ease, is no passive princess. Whilst the image of a girl dressed in pink is no more than eighty years old, the image of a woman riding a horse is clearly a good deal older. However, irrespective of age (simply using the fact that something has been around for a long time is a highly dubious reason for justifying it - patriarchy, for example, is ancient!) it seems to me, listening to Tenar, that she has somehow tapped into an image-geyser - it has sprung up mysteriously, and with tremendous energy. It feeds her.  Life is tough, we are confined in a tiny house, while we try to stay well, stay sane, shield Granny, but my daughter is buoyant, not blue, because she is dreaming of horses- I need some of what she’s got.  
But I never dreamt of horses. They don’t do it for me. I think back to when I loved navy blue and try to recall what else I was dreaming of then. What made me run around the kitchen table with delight like my daughter does? And then the answer comes: I wanted a meadow too, but not for a horse. I wanted a cabin in one corner - I was going to run across the meadow, barefoot, marvel at the wonder of the world and then head into my cabin and write. I didn’t want to be a princess, I wanted to be a poet. With the same passion, the same weird mix of realism and fantasy as I see in my daughter and her horse ambitions, I made plans for my poetry cabin. I remembered this when I watched the amazing Amanda Gorman, not dressed in pink or blue but brightest yellow, reciting at Biden’s inauguration - a young poet woman warrior. I can feel it does me good to summon up this archetype, this image. It starts, slowly, to dispel the blue. It’s a dose of a meaning-of-life medicine, the first iteration of it that I ever brewed for myself and so, because of this, it still holds a certain potency. As Victor Frankl argues in his classic Man’s Search for Meaning a sense of purpose, of meaning, is what we (man, woman, or betwixt and between) need to survive the hardest times - a holocaust, a global pandemic, or, closer to home, just a tough day of schooling with the kids. 
So, here are your questions for the month - actually a mix of my daughter’s questions and mine:
What is your favourite colour today? What are you the fairy of? What do or did your children, if you have them, dream of? And what were your own childhood dreams? And can your answers to these questions change the colour of your days?
As I type this, Tenar is sitting on my lap, and she has asked for the last word. I have said she can dictate and I will type. Over to Tenar, then, to finish this off:
“I ask my mum so many questions that I feel in my body and I say my heart is the thing that controls my feelings. I ask every night to my mum, why she was a tom boy? And I say that I love you as much as I am going to love everything around me, and I love my heart, and my horse. And I am a girlie girl, not like my mummy.  I love princesses, I say, every night.”
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intobarbarians · 4 years
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part thirty-four to this
Only a few different kinds of wildflowers grow in the flatlands. The grass that carpets the ground for miles is uniform: a single, resilient species.
The lack of variety is alarming.
“The vegetation here is hardy, though if conditions worsen it, too, will die off,” Kurama says. “You see this flower? The pale color indicates the soil quality is poor. In healthy soil, the petals would be a deep burgundy.”
The flower Kurama points out is almost see through.
Kuwabara presses his fingers into the soil. The ground is hard and packed, too difficult for most plants to root into.
“Is it like this everywhere?” His heart revolts at the possibility.
“Not everywhere.” At Kurama’s touch, the petals darken into a red so luxurious it’s nearly black. “But it’s unlikely to stay that way. Many of the plants that were common in my childhood--my other childhood--have disappeared.” The blossom’s healthy pallor stands in stark contrast to its translucent cousins.
Hatori strokes the tip of a petal with his thumb. “The shape reminds me of null blossoms.”
“Null blossoms?”
“Very pretty flowers,” Mukuro says. “Quite famous for their lethality. They had no distinct flavor, and their delicate scent was easily covered in a glass of wine or aromatic stew. It’s a famous motif in paintings from Makai’s previous great age. A chain of null blossoms around the neck signifies that the subject is not, in fact, asleep.”
Kuwabara scooches away from the flowers.
“Don’t worry, Kuwabara. These flowers and null blossoms aren’t the least bit related.” Kurama crouches down to admire the red bloom. “They do look similar, don’t they? If null blossoms weren’t extinct, it would be easy to mix the two up.”
The noise Hatori makes is soft and disbelieving. “Extinct?”
“For at least two hundred years,” Kurama says. “You’ll find many scammers in Makai’s underground markets selling alleged null blossom seeds. A few attempt to find buyers in the human realm, as well. However, I have yet to come across a legitimate offer.” Null blossoms wouldn’t remain extinct for long, if Kurama got his hands on their seeds.
It takes a moment for Hatori to regain his composure. “We used to dry bouquets of null blossoms for My Lady’s festivals. We would hang them above the door of every house in the village.” he says. His hand falls away from the petals. “It was the only known cure for a fever that ravaged the southwestern plains. Before its medicinal properties were discovered, there was no treatment. We had no choice but to wait for the fever to burn itself out. It destroyed entire communities.”
“I believe I know the fever you speak of. I haven’t heard a report of an outbreak in decades.” Mukuro might be the second oldest person here, after Hatori. She’s seen the end of many things.
“What about siren’s balm? Moonroot? Yellow web bark?”
Kurama glances helplessly at Kuwabara before answering. “All gone.”
He may as well have struck Hatori with the back of his hand.
The Violet Queen is the goddess of poisons or medicine, depending on who you ask. “Do all of those plants have special meaning for your lady?”
“They’re religious symbols of the Violet Queen’s cult,” Mukuro explains. “They refer to them as the sacred herbs. Each herb is a gift from the Violet Queen herself, a token of her divine favor.”
“They were the centerpieces of our rituals, but they also had practical uses: Siren’s balm relieves labor pains. Moonroot tea calms anxiety. Yellow web bark stems infection when used in a poultice. We used to grow it on the farm because it released nitrogen back into the soil.” Hatori grieves their loss like he would grieve a member of his family. “You were right, Kuwabara. My Lady must return to Makai. The earth will nourish her sacred herbs again if she wills it to. I am certain of that.”
Mukuro glances at Hatori. A thousand questions seem to be on the tip of her tongue, but she asks none of them.
The restoration of any part of the ecosystem is vital, but Kuwabara hasn’t seen pollinators anywhere in the flatlands all day. The Violet Queen’s return will help Makai, but there’s more to the stagnation here than she alone can account for.
Kuwabara runs his palm over the blades of grass. How often does it rain here?
“Is he coming out or what?” Yusuke stomps the ground to let B’valan know that yes, I’m talking about you. “We set up a welcome party and everything. He’s stopped being fashionably late; now he’s just plain rude.”
Kuwabara’s losing his patience, too. He can’t open the portal until B’valan leaves the ground.
Well, technically he could, but where’s the drama in that?
Hiei must be so annoyed at being kept waiting. Kuwabara misses him.
Shit. The web will bear the weight, huh?
Hatori kneels beside Kuwabara. “It’s been an hour since he arrived. Why hasn’t he surfaced yet?”
Hate and anger, regret and fear churn restlessly below.
“He’s scared.” B’valan coils in the earth, seeking comfort in the dark, in the pressure of the soil and the rock that has been his home and his prison for thousands of years. “He knows it’ll be all over soon.”
“Isn’t that why he, you know--” Yusuke mimes his idea of psychic energy by wiggling two fingers at Kuwabara, “--started a text thread directly in your brain? I thought he wanted the show to end. Newsflash to B’valan: the curtain can’t fall until he gets his ass on stage and takes a bow.”
He has a point.
Kuwabara seeks out the thread of B’valan’s consciousness. You hear that? It’s time.
The responding low keen is almost unbearable. enough enough enough
We found a third option. You don’t have to hate her anymore.
is she there is she watching is she waiting
Kuwabara summons his spirit sword.
Hiei exhales, while Kuwabara forgets how to breathe. “Finally tired of making me wait, are you?”
Yes, exhausted.
Wordlessly, Kuwabara holds out his hand. Hiei takes it without hesitation. The shadow of a spider slowly subsumes the dim light of the cave.
Come and see.
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alwaysgcld · 4 years
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(i am so late with this but i loved learning more about malia and henry so much i wanted to do it too)
The Basics
Name? Benigno Jae Park
Age? 29 30
Approximate height? 6’3”
Hair color? Black
Eye color? Dark Brown
Do they speak with an accent? No
Where are they from? Kingston, New York
Where are they now? Stardew Valley
Backstory
Who are their parents? Minerva Park, Nico Park (née Monti)
What is their earliest memory? Watching his father cook breakfast as he hums along to music he has playing. That is until his mother enters, going for her morning cup of coffee. His father swoops her into his arms, dancing her around the kitchen as he serenades her to Queen’s Somebody to Love. When his mother has to leave, his father scoops Ben up and dances him around instead.
What did they want to be when they grew up? As a young child, a chef like his father. When he got a bit older however, he realized he wanted to be a doctor. 
What did/do their parents want them to be? Both of his parents always just wished for him to be happy. His father had really hoped he would end up finding happiness with working in the family restaurant as a chef or in management.
Do they have siblings? Older or younger? Brothers or sisters? An only child.
Do they have or have they ever had children? How many? No children
Do they or have ever had a significant other? Are they still with them? Why? Why not? Yes, he has had two serious relationships in his life. His first one was in high school with a boy named Andy. It lasted for a little over a year, and ended once Ben found out Andy was cheating on him. His second one started when he was in his first year of medical school. His relationship with Perri lasted for five years, and during the last year of their relationship they were engaged. The breakup was a mutual decision. Even so, he was really broken up about it for awhile. He is currently single.
Up until now, what’s the most noteworthy thing they’ve done? To them? To the people around them? He doesn’t think he’s done anything noteworthy yet. But to his family disagrees. He became a doctor at such a young age and managed to graduate top of his class even though he was juggling so many things in his personal life at the time.
Tastes
What’s your character’s favourite colour? Green, specifically darker shades like a pine green. Maroon or like amber is probably his second favorite.
Do they/would they choose to wear a scent? What would it be? Something with notes of sandalwood. Maybe has a specific cologne he wears for work (a lighter scent)  and one for other occasions.
Do they care about what things look like? All things, or only some? To a certain extent. He likes to look well put together, but it’s not something he worries entirely about.
What’s their favorite ice cream flavor? Anything with chocolate and/or strawberries, honestly. Also, has a special love for mint chocolate chip.
Are they a tea, or coffee drinker? Or soft drinks, or do they drink a lot of alcohol? What kind? He enjoys tea and coffee, but prefers coffee. Not a huge fan of soda; only really drinks like coke when he’s eating something spicy. Drinks any kind of alcohol. Wine and whiskey are his go to options.
What kind of books do they read? What TV shows and movies do they watch? Mostly reads mystery or true crime novels thanks to his mom. If it seems interesting, he’ll read anything. As for TV shows and movies, he prefers fast paced ones with lots of action. Not a huge fan of shows with lots of drama, like relationship drama, but does watch like soap operas with his nonnina, aunts, and uncles/Korean dramas with his aunts and cousins since it lets him have quality time with them. Plus he gives excellent commentary.
What kind of music do they like? Do they like music at all? Better question would be what kind of music does he not like? That would be country. Ben loves music.
If they were about to die, what would they have as their last meal? Please do not torture him by asking this. He’d never be able to pick a single dish.
Are they hedonistic? In all cases? Or does practicality sometimes/always/often win out? No, he’s more eudaimonistic/eudaemonistic if anything.
Do they have any philias or phobias? Mildly claustrophobic.
Morals, Beliefs, and Faith
Do they have an internal or an external moral code? Sort of a mix, but primarily internal.
To what extent are their actions dictated by this code? Wholly.
Do they believe in a God or Gods/Goddesses/Higher being of some description? He neither has faith nor disbelief in a God or Gods/Goddesses. In other words, he’s agnostic.
Are they superstitious? To a degree.
Do they believe in an afterlife? If so, what’s it like? He believes in an afterlife, yes. He has no idea what’s it like though.
Do they have any specific beliefs that manifest obviously? No.
Are the respectful of the beliefs of others? To what extent? Yes, he is extremely respectful of other people’s belief. Unless they try to force him or anyone else to share said beliefs. Or use them to justify their awful behavior.
Have they ever had to stand up to criticism for being religious? Or not being religious? Well, sort of in a way? It’s a long story.
Would they be more likely to act for the good of the one, or the good of the many? The good of the many.
Relationships
Do they make friends easily? Yes! 
Do they have a best friend? He’s the sort of person who has more than one best friend, that’s he acquired during different portion of his life. There’s Mari (his childhood best friend), Oz (his soccer best friend), Emery (college best friend), and Max (med school best friend). Hasn’t gotten that close to anyone in the valley to consider them a best friend.
Can they get people to do what they want them to? If so, how? Yes. Usually just by being his charming self.
Do they have a lot of romantic relationships? Serious, or short term? Hasn’t had any romantic relationships since moving to the valley. He’s serious when it comes to dating, not one for short term stuff.
Do they fall in and out of love easily? No, it takes time for him to fall in love. Even more for him to fall out.
Do strangers and acquaintances actually like them when they meet? Yeah. I mean, what isn’t there to like?
Do they have a network? Yes! 
What is their relationship like with their family? Great! He’s close with his parents and his extended family on both sides. Even the part of his mother family that lives in Korea. Not so much with the family members that live in Italy from his father’s side. Not anymore, at least. 
Are they still in touch with non-family people they were in touch with a year ago? Five years? Ten? More? Yes. He’s known his oldest friend for at 20 years. It’s hard to get rid of him once you’ve made it to a certain of level of friendship with him.
Do they like children? Do they want children of their own? He loves children. He considered being a pediatrician at one point because of that. Definitely plans to have children of his own one day. 
Physical Appearance
How does this character dress? How would they choose to dress, if all options were open to them? King of business causal. Tries to stick with slacks when working at the clinic, otherwise he’s wearing a nice pair of jeans. Seems to always have his clothes layered go to is a pull-over sweater over a button-down shirt. All of his clothes are rather nice. Not exactly high-end, but clearly money well spent. See visuals for his style here.
Do they have any tattoos? What do they mean? Has a tattoo of a larkspur on his left hip. He got the tattoo when he was eighteen with a few friends; each of them got a tattoo of birth month flower. In general, larkspurs denote love, affection, and ardent attachment.
Do they have piercings? How many? No piercings.
Do they have scars? Where did they come from? Has a scar on his right temple from an altercation when he was a teen. And another one on the lower right part of his abdomen from when he had his appendix taken out. Both are faint.
Do they alter their appearance in some way on a regular basis? No. 
Is there something they’d choose to change about their appearance if they had the opportunity to? No, not really.
Is there something about their appearance they’re particularly proud of/happy with? His smile.
Objectively, are they physically attractive? Fairly plain? Unattractive? OP says hell yeah, have you seen him??
Do they have an accurate mental picture and opinion of their physical appearance? Yes.
How much time do they spend thinking about their physical appearance? Not as much as one might assume.
General Knowledge
Can they navigate their own local area without getting lost? To what degree? Yes, he is familiar with the town and all the surrounding area at this point of the valley.
Do they know who the top politician or monarch is where they live? What about elsewhere? Yes, he is aware both of where he lives and elsewhere. 
Do they know if/where there are any major conflicts going on right now? Yes.
Do they know the composition of water? Of course.
Do they know how to eat a pomegranate? Yes.
Are they good with the technology available to them? Average? Completely hopeless? Very good with technology.
Could they paint a house? Without making a mess of it? Yes.
Could they bake a cake? Would you eat it if they did? Yes and yes.
Do they know how to perform basic maintenance on the common mode of transportation? Knows how to perform basic maintenance on bicycles and cars.
Do they know the price of a loaf of bread? Yes.
Specific Knowledge
Do they have a specific qualification in a narrow area? Yes, he has a B.S. degree in psychology and a medical degree.
Is there something they do or know exceptionally well that most other people don’t? Aside from the doctor stuff? He wouldn’t say he does or knows anything exceptionally more than most people.
Do people often comment on a particular skill or area of knowledge to this character? Behind their back? Usually gets surprised reactions when people find out how many additional skills he has on-top of being a doctor. He’s sure people talk about it behind his back, but he doesn’t care enough to find out to what extent.  
Is there an area this character could be considered top of their field or a genius in? By no means considers himself a genius of his field compared to others. He was the top of his class in medical school though.
Have they deliberately sought to gain knowledge in a specific area? If so, why? Yes. He majored in psychology since he was interested to learn more about how the brain works. Minored in dance for fun. And of course pursued a medical degree because he wanted to become a doctor to help people.
Do they speak more than one language? More than two? Why? Is fluent in several languages: English, Italian (due to his father’s side), Korean (due to mother’s side), and Spanish (from taking it in high school since they wouldn’t let him take Italian plus Mari taught him it). Vaguely knows Greek and Latin from medical lingo. Latin is a tad bit stronger because father’s side of family are Catholics.
Does their cultural background effect what they would be expected to know? Yes?
Have they ever been publicly acknowledged for being well-versed in something? Yes, he was valedictorian of his high school class and was acknowledged as top student during his med school graduation.
Have they ever been bullied for knowing a lot about something? No.
Do they actively seek new knowledge, or let it come to them naturally? A mix of both. He enjoys learning more, he’s not picky on how that new knowledge enters his life.
Miscellaneous
What did they have for breakfast this morning? An omelette with a side of fruit.
What ridiculous belief/s did they have as a child? That birds were having an important meeting when they sat in groups on telephone wires.
Do they like marshmallows? Loves marshmallows! Especially toasted ones.
Do they sleep on their side, front, or back? Tends to start off on his side, and end up on his front or back at some point while sleeping.
Do they work better with sound or silence? With sound.
Do they have a strange obsession with something minor? Looping back to the last question, he can’t stand silence. So he always has to have some sort of sound going on, whether it’s a conversation with someone, an audiobook, or music. If none of those are readily available, he will make his own sound which is how he got the habit of singing to himself so often.
Do they like art? He loves art! His college best friend was an art major and he has several of his pieces hanging up in the clinic and his apartment.
How fast can they run? Remarkably fast. 
Do they prefer to sit on the floor or on a chair? Honestly, will sit anywhere given the chance, he is not picky.
What do they want, right now? There isn’t really anything that he wants at the moment. He’s content. At least, that’s what he’s convinced himself.
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pjstafford · 4 years
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The Bad Boy/Good Guy public personality dynamic of David Duchovny
Written as a birthday gift (with her blog prompt) for Charmion @grungekid84
Dedication: Charmion and I are of different generations; separated in age by over twenty years. I was the age she is now, about, when the X-files was new and she watched it first as a child. Yet today we share similarities in thoughts related to our celebrity crush. To both Charmion and David Duchovny I say, I hope this blog does the love the justice it deserves.
Why are women 20 to 70 years of age fan girls of the 59 year old David Duchovny? Not simply fans! Fans might watch a movie because an actor is in it. They might rewatch a series a half dozen times. Fan girls like Charmion have an Xfile room and paint pictures. Fan girls like myself write blogs, fan fic and team up with fan girls like Cathy Glinski to present at academic conferences. Why do women who have no other celebrity crushes have this need to celebrate this one celebrity in these ways? It seems significant to me the age range of women who are fan girls. I have stood in an audience surrounded by women barely old enough to meet the 21 age limit who knew every word to each of his songs. I heard one such woman say that this is an experience she would tell her grandchildren about. I, also, know women closer to 70 who have traveled to a meet and greet or comic con because they wanted the opportunity to thank this celebrity for the years of joy. Just today as I start to write this a woman I do not know tweeted @hearteyes4david an open letter to the world with a life wish to meet and thank this man. There are so many of us who just want to say thank you. And I won’t say none of us are not, but most of us are not crazy. We are lobbyists, store managers, attorneys, emergency room nurses, church secretaries of different ages and nationalities, many happily married, most normal women ( and some men). So many of us eager, compelled almost, to meet a single specific man and say thank you.
Some of it, people will say, is lust. Yes, it’s possible that if he was a less attractive man we would wish to thank him in person less. Still, can you truly look at the picture at the end of this blog and say his looks are so much more Adonis like than any other man? To say it’s purely a physical lust for a handsome man is dismissive of the intelligent, thoughtful women so moved to want to thank him.
His talent? “Sweet baby Jesus” he gave us Mulder and if that wasn’t enough, Moody. Whether he is playing a man who has lost his wife in Return to me, a drugged out doctor in Playing God, or a Russian operative determine to see the US nuked in Phantomn he makes every character seem so real that he gets a reputation for only playing himself. He is so good of an actor playing such diverse roles that folks can’t believe is truly acting. Still, I think most of us would just be fans and not fan girls if good looks and talent was all he had going for him
He is multi-talented and many love the rock star with romantic, heart breaking lyrics. For me, as I have often said, he is my favorite living novelist with three novels published and a fourth to come out soon. He writes intelligent, funny, heart breaking novels with an unique style and characters that again seem real (even the talking animals). In a recent interview he said something to the effect that his kids could read these novels and know who he was a man. I think that’s why I love his writing so much is because lyrics or prose they are authentic expressions of an artist’s personality; which brings me to Charmion prompt...the personality of David Duchovny.
I have met the man briefly a handful of times. I like the man I have met, but I can’t pretend to know more anymore than his public persona. I know how he comes across in interviews, what others who know him say about him, and all I can possibly gleam from his public art...from the things he has acted in and from his written art- the XFiles the Unnatural, the movie “House of D”, the novels, the lyrics, the distorted selfies in the mirrors reflections he tweeted when he used to tweet. This is how I know what I know about the man...and the fact that the few times I met him he was soft spoken, polite, humble and kind; taking time to answer my questions intelligently, joke a little and write kind words.
I know he is flawed. It is impossible to be a fan and not know about some of the faults which have been well publicized. As he himself says in my favorite of his songs, “I got skeletons in my closet which time ain’t forgot...”. They will never be forgotten. They will be included 20 or 30 years from now in his obituary. His flawed character is a fact, it has been aired, it is part of who he is.
I have written that what I love best about his writing is the combination of darkness and despair with the lightness of the human spirit and resiliency (mmm...the ability to believe?) rising out of darkness. He writes about the most depressing subjects on earth realistically and the fairy tale quality which rises to fill our hearts, to make us laugh and cry, is as real. It is either or both n amazing technique and/ or a result of a world view. I choose to believe it is the latter.
David Duchovny is no saint, but God Damn, he seems like a remarkably good guy with enough of a bad/boy mischievous side to make his personality as sexy as fucking itself. See how I just got a little different in my language there. David puts fucking in a book title, god damn in a song, gets bleeped on air record breaking number of times. God damn, fuck you if you think this is a man who is afraid to swear. He is not really Fox Freaking Mulder but he is David Fucking Duchovny
He is a good guy. He is intelligent. His ability to reference the high brow literary comes across in all his works. His second album title is from a Shakespeare quote. Walt Whitman shows up throughout his novels (and his dog’s tweets). He is well read, it quite well known. If you don’t get that reference, he would, as a Dylan fan and a fan of many other musical artists. He is also happy to talk about and reference sporting heros.
He is a bad boy. Oh, but the lowbrow humor! Early interviews have fart jokes, bathroom humor. He has a knack for intermixing the profane and profound. His novel, Miss Subways, has the elementary teacher leaving the classroom in tears when an assignment (write a letter to a Shakespeare minor character) results in an innocent boy reading “My dearest Fellatio...”.
He is a good guy. He is a romantic. He gave the XFiles fans the shippy Mulder and Scully baseball scene. He believes in his heart that Californication was at heart a love story. He writes lyrics for his ex wife who loves the rain saying “ It will always be raining in this song.” In his novel are real people having real sex type of scenes...no great erotica with flowing hair and heaving bosoms for this man, but discussion of lights on or off or an older couple off screen and an adult son hearing and embarrassed.
He is a bad boy. The man has no fear of nudity. . In his first movie he was filmed completely naked. In the commentary to the rapture he admits that he told the director he thought the character slept in the nude. (Hence the balls shot). It was his idea to wear the red speedo. He improvised the moonshot in evolution.
He is a good guy. He believes in causes. He volunteers and donates to protect the planet, for animal rights, for music education and for planned parenthood. His was the only story in over 200 XFiles episodes that truly dealt with racial injustice and segregation.
He is a good guy. In House of D the thirteen year old boy’s best friend is a forty year old janitor with special needs. He is a bad boy. That boy and janitor told each other a lot of pee jokes.
I can go on and on and on about the bad boy/good guy public personna of David Duchovny, but I am going to close with a subject that might tempt fate and bring forth the haters. I want to end with thinking about David and women.
In Red Shoes diaries David was in the forefront of the soft porn explosion. In an interview this year Brigitte Bako describes her experience in filming the movie as the “worst experience of my life”; but has nothing but complimentary things to say about David, how sweet and nice he was. They became close friends and she later appeared in an episode of Californication.
In Californication, David was the star of one of the raunchiest series in television history. Tits and ass, fucking and punching. I love the show but it would likely not be made today although, to be fair, it demonstrates women having agency over their sexuality. Nevertheless, actresses who appeared on that show have recently been asked what it was like. Over and over again they talk about how comfortable the environment was and how polite and respectful David was.
Much has been made over Gillian Anderson being paid half of David Duchovny’s salary. This is hardly his fault and something he argued against once he was made aware of it, but, as a fan of the show, I love hearing him talk protectively of Mulder and of wanting to protect that relationship. I love that he was responsible for rewriting an ending to one of seasons 11 episodes which end not with Mulder objectifying Scully and not with him in his under wear, but with Scully opining the door and him standing there. As David said, Scully being in control of her own desires.
Finally in Miss Subways, I find a female character written with such realism and authenticity that I have to go back to the 19th century to find a female literary character so relatable to me. She is a reader, beautiful to some men, a little eccentric in some ways, vulnerable, strong but without a great belief in herself or her talent. She’s just fucking real in a fucking real world despite being in a surrealistic fantasy novel with Irish banshees and African spider goddesses, parallel timelines and phones that can alter reality.
We, the fan girls, love this celebrity, David Duchovny because of his looks, his talent and his personality; because he is a bad boy and a good guy; because he inspires us, because he is flawed as we all are and goes through his life trying to be present in the day. For all the fan women who have yet to meet you, Mr. Duchovny, I say thank you and we love you, until they can meet you and tell you themselves.
Happy Birthday, Charmion. If you should meet him someday when I am not there give him an extra hug for me.
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eyreguide · 4 years
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Jane Eyre’s Library
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The novel Jane Eyre is full of literary references, allusions, and quotations that enrich the story and showcase how well-read Charlotte (and consequently Jane) was.  This post highlights those literary references and gives a bit of context for each work that might help illuminate their use in the book.  I have done my best to note all instances where Charlotte references a literary work (not including references to historical events) but I probably missed a few.  If you know of any I missed and the particular quote, please let me know!
I thought it would be interesting to start this post with Charlotte’s recommendation of books to read to her friend Ellen Nussey.  Charlotte was eighteen when she wrote this letter.  I can’t say I was as well-read at her age!
“You ask me to recommend some books for your perusal; I will do so in as few words as I can. If you like poetry let it be first rate, Milton, Shakespeare, Thomson, Goldsmith, Pope (if you will, though I don’t admire him), Scott, Byron, Campbell, Wordsworth and Southey.” (letter dated July 4, 1834):
The Bible: I must acknowledge that there are many references to Biblical passages and characters in Jane Eyre but I have decided not to list them here, as it would be a lot of work.  It’ll be something I’ll save for a future post.
Greek and Roman Mythology: Another omission are the references to mythology throughout the novel.  Something else I’ll save for another time.
History of British Birds by Thomas Bewick
“Where the Northern Ocean, vast whirls, Boils round the naked, melancholy isles Of farthest Thule; and the Atlantic surge Pours in among the stormy Hebrides.”
A History of British Birds is a natural history book, published in two volumes. Volume 1, "Land Birds", appeared in 1797. Volume 2, "Water Birds", appeared in 1804.  The quote is from the second volume.
Pamela or Virtue Rewarded by Samuel Richardson
Referenced in the novel as being one of the stories Bessie tells young Jane. Published 1740, Pamela was is an epistolary novel and was a best-seller in it’s time.  But the story about a young maidservant who endeavors to resist her employer’s advances and ends up marrying him in the end, was a controversial novel at the time.
The History of Henry Earl of Moreland by John Wesley
Also called The Fool of Quality this is another novel that Bessie (probably more appropriately) tells stories from to Jane.  It follows the life of Harry Clinton and his attempts to better his lot.  There are frequent intervals in which the author offers philosophical digressions and commentaries.  The final two-volume set was published in 1781.
History of Rome by Oliver Goldsmith
“I had read Goldsmith’s History of Rome, and had formed my opinion of Nero, Caligula, etc.”
Originally published in 1838, this is a definitive work on the History of Rome.
Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift
”Bessie asked if I would have a book: the word book acted as a transient stimulus, and I begged her to fetch ‘Gulliver’s Travels’ from the library.”
Gulliver's Travels, or Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World. In Four Parts. By Lemuel Gulliver, First a Surgeon, and then a Captain of Several Ships is a prose satire of human nature and the ‘traveller’s tales’ literary subgenre. It was an immediate success when published in 1726.
The History of Rasselas by Samuel Johnson
“I could see the title - it was ‘Rasselas;’ a name that struck me as strange, and consequently attractive.”
The History of Rasselas, Prince of Abissinia, originally titled The Prince of Abissinia: A Tale, though often abbreviated to Rasselas, is an apologue about happiness, published in 1759.  The story is a philosophical romance with similarities in theme to Voltaire’s Candide.
The Arabian Nights
”That night, on going to bed, I forgot to prepare in imagination the Barmecide supper of hot roast potatoes, or white bread and new milk, with which I was wont to amuse my inward cravings”
The Arabian Nights is a collection of Middle Eastern folk tales and is also known as One Thousand and One Nights.  The stories have been collected over many centuries but they are all framed by Scheherazade telling these stories to her husband, the King.  In one story Barmecide invites a beggar to an imaginary feast.  Also, Mesrour is the name of an executioner in the book.
The Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan
“He may be stern; he may be exacting: he may be ambitious yet; but his is the sternness of the warrior Greatheart, who guards his pilgrim convoy from the onslaught of Apollyon.”
The Pilgrim's Progress from This World, to That Which Is to Come is a 1678 Christian allegory.  Greatheart and Apollyon are characters in this work.  It is often cited as the first novel written in English.
"La Ligue des Rats" by Jean de la Fontaine
‘Assuming an attitude, she began ‘La Ligue des Rats: fable de la Fontaine.’
This French poem was first published in 1692.  Jean de la Fontaine is famous for his Fables and was one of the most widely read poets of the 17th century.  Read the original tale in French here.
Macbeth by William Shakespeare
‘Yes - “after life’s fitful fever they sleep well,” ‘ I muttered.
“She stood there, by that beech-trunk—a hag like one of those who appeared to Macbeth on the heath of Forres.”
Macbeth was first performed in 1606 and dramatizes the physical and physiological effects of political ambition.  The first line is a reference to Macbeth’s words concerning the dead Duncan.  And the second refers to the three witches in the play.
Bluebeard by Charles Perrault
”I lingered in the long passage to which this led, separating the front and back rooms of the third story: looking, with its two rows of small black doors all shut, like a corridor in some Bluebeard’s castle.”
“Bluebeard” is a French folktale, the most famous surviving version of which was written by Charles Perrault and first published by Barbin in Paris in 1697 in Histoires ou contes du temps passé. The tale tells the story of a wealthy man in the habit of murdering his wives and the attempts of one wife to avoid the fate of her predecessors. An interesting example of foreshadowing from Charlotte.  Read this fairy tale here.
Francis Bacon’s Essays
‘I see,’ he said, ‘the mountain will never be brought to Mahomet, so all you can do is to aid Mahomet to go to the mountain; I must beg of you to come here.’
This is in reference to a proverb that has been traced to Francis Bacon’s essays: “Mahomet made the people believe that he would call a hill to him, and from the top of it offer up his prayers for the observers of his law.  The people assembled: Mahomet called the hill to come to him again and again: and when the hill stood still, he was never a whit abased, but said, “If the hill will not come to Mahomet, Mahomet will go to the hill.”
It is unclear if this is a true legend of Mohammed or an English invention.  The Essays were published in 1625.
"Fallen is Thy Throne" by Thomas Moore
“Like heath that, in the wilderness, The wild wind whirls away.”
I could not find a publication date for the poem, but the poet Thomas Moore lived 1779-1852.  The poem these lines are from is about the fall of Israel.  Read this poem here.
Duncaid by Alexander Pope
“Yes, just as much good as it would do a man tired of sitting still in a ‘too easy chair’ to take a long walk; and just as natural was the wish to stir, under my circumstances, as it would be under his.”
The Dunciad is a landmark mock-heroic narrative poem published in three different versions at different times from 1728 to 1743. The poem celebrates a goddess Dulness and the progress of her chosen agents as they bring decay, imbecility, and tastelessness to the Kingdom of Great Britain.
Paradise Lost by John Milton
This pale crescent was ’The likeness of a Kingly Crown’; what it diademed was ‘the shape which shape had none.’
“Some natural tears she shed’ on being told this, but as I began to look very grave, she consented at last to wipe them.”
Paradise Lost is an epic poem with the first version published in 1667, and the second edition in 1674.  The poem is about the biblical story of the fall of Man with the temptation of Adam and Eve in the Garden.  The first quote in Jane Eyre concerning Jane’s paintings is a direct echo of the description of Hell in the poem: “If shape it might be call’d that shape had none/ Distinguishable... What seem’d his head/ The likeness of a Kingly Crown had on”
The second quote describes Adele’s disappointment at not joining the party and is inspired by the line about Adam and Eve departing Eden: “Some natural tears they dropp’d”
Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare
“Rise, Miss Eyre: leave me; “the play is played out.”
Twelfth Night, or What You Will is a romantic comedy, believed to have been written around 1601–1602 as a Twelfth Night’s entertainment for the close of the Christmas season. The play centers on the twins Viola and Sebastian, who are separated in a shipwreck.  This is believed to be the source of the above line from Jane Eyre.
The Scornful Lady by Francis Beaumont and John Fletcher
“She never did so before,” at last said Bessie, turning to the Abigail.
“In the servants’ hall two coachmen and three gentlemen’s gentlemen stood or sat round the fire; the abigails, I suppose, were upstairs with their mistresses; the new servants, that had been hired from Millcote, were bustling about everywhere.”
The Scornful Lady is a Jacobean era stage play, a comedy first published in 1616, the year of the author Beaumont's death. It was one of the pair's most popular, often revived, and frequently reprinted works. The term abigails, meaning ladies’ maids, comes from a character named Abigail in The Scornful Lady.
King Lear by William Shakespeare
‘There, then - “Off, ye lendings!”
King Lear is a tragedy where King Lear decides to leave nothing to his honest, third daughter who refuses to flatter him like her two sisters have done.  It a story of human suffering and kinship.  The first known performance of the play was in 1606.
Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare
“It’s a mere rehearsal of Much Ado About Nothing.”
Much Ado About Nothing is a comedy and thought to have been written in 1598 and 1599, as Shakespeare was approaching the middle of his career. In Shakespeare’s time the word “noting” (which sounds close to “nothing”) meant gossip and rumor which is what leads Benedick and Beatrice into falling in love, and Claudio into rejecting Hero at the marriage altar.  Mr. Rochester uses that quote above to indicate to his guests that nothing is wrong.
The Turkish Lady by Thomas Campbell
”It was now the sweetest hour of the twenty-four: -- ‘Day its fervid fires had wasted,’ and the dew fell cool on panting plain and scorched summit.”
The poem’s author, Thomas Campbell, lived from 1777-1844) and the poem “The Turkish Lady” is about a captive English knight who is visited by Eastern lady who releases him from captivity and he takes her away as his bride.  A fitting reference given that this quote is used in the chapter where Rochester proposes to Jane.  Read this poem here.
A Midsummer Night's Dream by Shakespeare
”Is this my pale, little elf?  Is this my mustard-seed?”
A Midsummer Night's Dream is a comedy written in 1595/96. It portrays the events surrounding the marriage of Theseus, the Duke of Athens, to Hippolyta, the Queen of the Fairies. Mustardseed is one of the fairies in the play.
King John by William Shakespeare
’I might as well “gild refined gold.”
The Life and Death of King John is believed to have been written in the mid 1590s and dramatizes John, King of England, who ruled 1199-1216.  The quoted phrase is but one of several examples of “wasteful and ridiculous excess” in the play.
"Bonny Wee Thing" by Robert Burns
“Yes, bonny wee thing, I’ll wear you in my bosom, lest my jewel I should tyne.”
A 1791 poem (also written “The Bonie Wee Thing”).  This poem has also been set to music.  Read this poem here.
Lay of the Last Minstrel by Sir Walter Scott
”Looked to river, looked to hill.”
Published in 1805, Lay of the Last Minstrel is a long narrative poem in which an aging minstrel tells of a sixteenth-century border feud between England and Scotland.
The Robbers by Fredrich Schiller
“‘Da trat hervor Einer, anzusehen wie die Sternen Nacht.’  Good! good!” she exclaimed, while her dark and deep eye sparkled.  “There you have a dim and mighty archangel fitly set before you!  The line is worth a hundred pages of fustian.  ‘Ich wäge die Gedanken in der Schale meines Zornes und die Werke mit dem Gewichte meines Grimms.’
This quotes from the first drama by playwright Schiller, published in 1781.  The story revolves around two aristocratic brothers, Karl and Franz.  Franz is beloved by his father and Karl plots to wrest away his inheritance.
A translation of the lines:
Da trat hervor Einer, anzusehen wie die Sternen Nacht. - One stepped forward to look at how the night was filled with stars.  
Ich wäge die Gedanken in der Schale meines Zornes und die Werke mit dem Gewichte meines Grimms. - I ventured the thoughts in the shell of my wrath and the works with the weight of my ferocity.
Lalla Rookh by Thomas Moore
To live amidst general regard, though it be but the regard of working people, is like “sitting in sunshine, calm and sweet;” serene inward feelings bud and bloom under the ray.
Lalla Rookh is an Oriental romance, published in 1817. The title is taken from the name of the heroine, the daughter of the 17th-century Mughal emperor Arangzeb. The work consists of four narrative poems with a connecting tale in prose.
Marmion: A Tale of Flodden Field by Sir Walter Scott
“Day set on Norham’s castled steep, And Tweed’s fair river broad and deep,  And Cheviot’s mountains lone; The massive towers, the donjon keep,  In yellow lustre shone”—
Marmion: A Tale of Flodden Field is a historical romance in verse of 16th-century Britain, published in 1808. It concludes with the Battle of Flodden in 1513.
"The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" by Samuel Coleridge
The sternest-seeming stoic is human after all; and to “burst” with boldness and good-will into “the silent sea” of their souls is often to confer on them the first of obligations.
“The Rime of the Ancient Mariner”  is the longest major poem by the English poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge, written in 1797–98 and published in 1798 in the first edition of Lyrical Ballads.  Read this poem here.
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beneaththetangles · 4 years
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BtT Light Novel Club Chapter 19: Spice and Wolf, Vol. 2
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We started the Light Novel Club with Spice and Wolf, and now we have returned to this classic title for more wheelin’ and dealin’ with a wolf goddess. Joining me are TWWK and Jeskai Angel as we pick apart volume 2…
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1. What are your overall thoughts about this volume?
TWWK: After a slow start, volume two hit me much the same as volume did, with an appreciation for Hasekura’s writing. There were of course moments of action, but most interesting aspects remain related to economics, trade, and culture, and for one with little interest in two of those three topics, I’ve found these novels to be spellbinding. I enjoyed volume two very much.
Jeskai Angel: The good: the first volume’s economic lectures were a bit tedious. For vol. 2, business dealings remained front and center, but this time the story did a much smoother job of weaving the economic ideas into the narrative. Also, I liked Holo and Norah. The rapid escalation of schemes and counter-schemes toward the end of the book was fun. And I like the mysterious, ambiguous way the presence of other supernatural forces besides Holo was worked into the world.
The bad: I remain uncomfortable with the negative depiction of the literal-Roman-Catholic-Church-in-all-but-name, but at least it wasn’t any worse than in the first book?
The ugly: ultimately, despite this volume’s good qualities, I enjoyed it even less than the first book (which I didn’t especially care for in the first place). As for why, well, I’ll talk about the protagonist under the next question.
stardf29: Overall, I thought this was a solid second volume. It started out a bit slow but once Lawrence finds himself in trouble and has to find his way out of it it got more interesting. The wrangling of economics is interesting enough but the main highlight continues to be the developing relationship between Lawrence and Holo.
2. What are your thoughts on the characters (old and new) in this volume?
Jeskai Angel: After reading the first volume, I felt somewhat ambivalent about Lawrence, but vol. 2 solidified my negative outlook toward him. Lawrence is greedy, arrogant, stubborn, selfish, and deceitful. There were signs of these traits in the previous book, but they are more glaring — and, indeed, central to the plot — this time around. Lawrence is a realistic (verging on downright cynical) depiction of how we humans often behave. He’s not entirely evil, having feeble benevolent instincts and a conscience that tends to be ignored, but it’s not enough for me like, respect, or enjoy reading about him. The most positive emotion I could muster toward him was pity, along the hope that if he survives this, maybe someday he’ll grow into a better person. Lawrence’s story is instructive but depressing, a little like stories in the Bible about people sinning. Maybe this pays off with character growth some volumes later, but at least for now, it’s not much fun.
On a more positive note, Holo remained entertaining. The author does a strong job of balancing her ancient wisdom and her youthful mischief. It’s also great seeing Holo endlessly outsmart pretty much everyone, validating her claim to being a wisewolf. Finally, Holo actually seemed more genuinely God-like in this volume. The way she forgives Lawrence and keeps offering him salvation, despite his stupidity and rejection of her and endless dependence on her, is the best part of the story.
Besides the two leads, characters from vol. 1 had no presence. This is logical, in some respects, given that it’s the story of a traveling merchant, but it’s also strange that the author would just dump all the time spent developing characters and setting for the first book. Given the emphasis on travel thus far, I wonder if the series continues with this episodic format, where each volume visits a new city with all new characters, or if the author eventually starts to weave other recurring characters into the tale.
Norah was the standout new character here, a dynamic combination of innocence and naivete with competence and perceptiveness. This actually made her the most unpredictable character in the book. I could never quite tell just how smart and capable versus inexperienced and trusting she really was, and thus couldn’t anticipate what she’d do.
TWWK: I agree with most of your assessments, Jeskai, regarding the characters—first volume included. I couldn’t remember any characters other than the dual protagonists, but the ones introduced in volume two were far more memorable, and particularly Norah. She’s lovable for sure, but because of her capability and somewhat mysterious past, and because of the double-crosses that have already occurred over two volumes, I always had this thought in the back of my mind: “I hope Norah doesn’t betray Lawrence and Holo, but I could possibly see it happening…”
Holo was a pretty awesome in this volume. Her character was rounded out more through this adventure, making it easier to root for her. I’m fact, I wonder if she’s too likeable heading into volume three, an almost-perfect character whose “imperfections” are quirks the readers enjoy.
Lawrence, though, is as imperfect as Jeskai says, but I like that about him. I don’t find anything about him too off-putting. Hasekura has crafted a protagonist who is smart and determined, but constantly learning or being reminded that he’s “not there yet.” Further, the nervousness he sometimes demonstrates adds a cuteness that paints him as a very anime male protagonist, even if the setting of this novel and atmosphere created is very different from the norm.
I like him, I think, for personal reasons as well. He reminds me quite of myself when I was younger—someone always scheming, who thinks of himself as having greater character than he does, and who is not quite as smart as he believes he is. There’s a great amount of pride in Lawrence, as previously mentioned, but he responds well in humility—and that’s a trait I find rather admirable (and lacking when I was the merchant’s age).
stardf29: To start with, given that the story seems to focus around Lawrence and Holo, it makes sense that they are the only returning characters here. That said, Norah definitely was quite a lot more interesting than you’d expect a one-off character to be, as you two have already described. It makes me wonder if, at this point, the author was planning to have her come back in a later volume.
Holo continues to be quite interesting and a lot of fun. As befitting of a deity, she always seems to be a step ahead of the humans around her, whether it be in her knowledge, power, or simply in her social interactions. I get the feeling that I’m starting to get to know what she’s like, but it still feels like there’s a lot more to her I don’t know. And that works well for this sort of “human deity” character. At the same time, we do see some more of her “human”-ness here, with the sense that she cares about Lawrence a lot and wants to be someone special to him.
And now for Lawrence. I still like him overall here as a flawed character, who’s willing to use underhanded tactics when in a pinch but is not so far gone as to not at least feel some guilt when doing so. I do have to agree that this is more of a feeling of “pity” than anything, seeing him do what he does simply because if he doesn’t, there’s basically no future for him. And I do hope that he can eventually find himself in a better position and then, perhaps, he will have a better moral compass to follow. So yeah, I guess I find that sort of character interesting enough to work for me as a main character, and as a counterpart to Holo.
3. Having Holo come to the rescue is a great thrill, but is it a good narrative choice?
Jeskai Angel: Probably not. Holo also really saved the day in vol. 1, but I think it felt quite a bit different because… A. it was the first volume and we hadn’t seen this story before, and… B. even if he wasn’t the lead solver of problems, Lawrence was less stupid and more proactive. There was a better balance between his contributions to the plot vs. those of Holo. The second volume recycled the plot of the first in major ways, but with Lawrence causing more of the problems and contributing less to the solutions, which I think was ultimately unsatisfying. I think another reason why “Holo saves the day” worked better in vol. 1 is that she was more mysterious back then. How smart is she, just what is she truly capable of…these were more murky issues in the first book. Similarly, the help she offered Lawrence was more unsolicited. Those factors helped keep the first volume from feeling like Lawrence just depends on Holo to solve all his problems. In contrast, Lawrence openly, repeatedly relies on Holo in the second volume, and her wisdom and powers have been much more clearly established, leaving less uncertainty about how things will play out.
“Now let me be clear,” I have no problem with a god or god-like character saving a protagonist; such can be an extremely satisfying plot development. For example, what if the narrative were presenting a message about how Lawrence needs to trust a god more instead of putting all his faith in his own abilities? That could be a perfectly fine message. But Holo and Lawrence both go out of their way to downplay Holo’s divinity, which undermines any chance of a “trust a higher power” type of moral. Likewise, there’s no hint of a cautionary lesson about the dangers of excessive self-reliance or some other such thing.
That leaves us with a protagonist who seems kind of cowardly and wimpy as he passively waits for his werewolf girlfriend to fix everything.
So in the end, I hesitate to say that “Having Holo come to the rescue” is a “bad” narrative decision, per se, but I think that choice was implemented in a less than satisfying way.
TWWK: I get what you’re saying, Jeskai, and I don’t disagree. Although you’re much harder on Lawrence’s character than I am, I’m still not real happy with the point, which was said on more than on occasion in volume two, that if things don’t work, it was okay cause Holo could just do everything herself anyway.
However, I do detect a humility in Lawrence that maybe you feel isn’t present. Two volumes have built him up into a good merchant, but one who is still young and relatively inexperienced, meaning that he’ll make good decisions most of the time and then some really bad decisions. When he’s done so, Lawrence has readily admitted what a bad situation he’s put himself in, but that pride he has (and maybe his youthfulness as well) leads him to have this gumption that maybe isn’t supported by reality, as well as forgetfulness to incorporate what he’s learned.
Ultimately, I wonder where the author is headed in all this. I hope that Lawrence matures and is able to both grow and bring something more than simple companionship into the relationship with Holo,while she is used as more than as a terrifyingly awesome deity with a cute side. I would love to see her help him grow so that he can actually save her at some point, and even better, that a situation arises where neither necessarily needs to save the other, but rather a more complicated situation develops that require solving. Two volumes in is both too early, I think, to expect that or to judge whether Holo’s wolf form is used too freely, but it’s not too early to question it.
Jeskai Angel: The same (or nearly the same) behavior can hold radically different meanings depending on context. Thus, Lawrence’s reliance on Holo could conceivably stem from positive sources (e.g. humility), or negative sources (e.g. cowardice). I would say I see how some of Lawrence’s actions have potential to be interpreted as signs of humility. I just didn’t feel like the narrative context gave me much justification for taking that more hopeful view.
stardf29: Holo is literally a deus ex machina. (I feel like I made that joke in the vol. 1 discussion too…)
Anyway, looking at it, it seems to me that the “drama” in Holo’s rescue isn’t actually in whether or not she will rescue Lawrence; that much definitely felt like a foregone conclusion. The drama was more in whether she would kill Norah in the process, which would weigh heavily on Lawrence. So in that sense, the rescue itself was pretty cool in its expectedness (like an OP isekai hero rushing in to save the day), but it still provided just a bit of drama, as it turns out.
(Jeskai Angel: Heh. I remember reading a review of some volume of Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? that complained that the outcome was too deus ex machina. Bear in mind this is a story where like half the supporting cast are literal gods. Forget the “ex machina part,” you can just stop at “deus.”)
4. What are your thoughts on the relationship between Lawrence and Holo as of this volume?
Jeskai Angel:  I’m not really clear on the timeline for vols. 1-2, but it felt to me like Lawrence and Holo’s relationship was moving surprisingly quickly. Maybe I missed the indicators of time passing, but in my head, they went from total strangers to seriously caring about each other to open flirting in the space of a week, maybe two. Not saying this is necessarily a bad or completely unrealistic thing, just that it really surprised me. “That escalated quickly,” indeed.
One of the more interesting dimensions to the relationship is how Lawrence perceives Holo. At different points in this volume, he thinks about her as an ancient goddess, a spooky scary supernatural monster, a get out of jail free card, a business consultant, a friend, a woman, an obstacle, and so on. I can’t help but think of the numerous images the Bible uses to describe our relationship with God: he’s our father, king, shepherd, brother, master, high priest, savior, friend, bridegroom, sacrificial lamb, the original of which we are images, the vine from which we grow, and much more. It would be cool if the series didn’t downplay Holo’s deity so much and instead more openly embraced to the chance to explore the true complexities of human-divine relationships.
TWWK: Jeskai’s absolutely right in that the relationship took quite a jump in this volume—I quite liked it, though, for a couple of reasons. I get so tired of how anime (and television shows, especially in the past) skirts around relationship development, titillating viewers and readers with jumps in development before resetting or moving backwards again. It’s annoying and unrealistic. I think the development in volume two is authentic, though. The familiarity and love (romantic or otherwise) between these two has formed by the extent of their sacrifice for one another and shared experience of near-death and disastrous situations and through their growing affection for one another. It’s nice to see, and it allows room for all sorts of growth in future volumes—primarily, toward what it means for a normal man to have a relationship with a wolf goddess.
stardf29: Yeah, things definitely moved quickly for these two, though not so quickly that they’re already engaged/married or anything (I’ve seen my fair share of those in LNs). It’s definitely nice to get some movement in their relationship and not have to suffer through a lot of waffling about, and while it’s moving fast, their relationship still feels believable, at least as much as one can imagine given Holo’s fantastical nature. They’re closer, but there’s still some distance between them, as there should be.
And yes, there are definitely many facets to how Lawrence sees Holo, which is cool to see. At this moment, he still by and large has to rely on her, while understanding that he cannot control her, either. It’s fascinating to see, and again, this is the highlight of this series for me so far.
5. Do you think this series has any relevance for the current real-world economic crisis?
Jeskai Angel: Not really? I mean, there are timeless truths that come up, like the importance of information, but nothing that seemed to have especial relevance to current circumstances. Any attempt to make application from the story is complicated by the fact that many ideas about economics aren’t universally accepted truths. So do we accept all the author’s underlying assumptions? If you made a bunch of economists, businessmen, investors, etc., read this series, I’m confident you’d get a variety of responses disagreeing with various claims made in the story.
TWWK: Beyond the intricacies of economics, I do see a kind a parallel here in how an unexpected fallout affects people. There’s a tone of dread throughout the volume, particularly because of the weight upon Lawrence’s shoulders but also because of his partners in the deal, who were the first to bottom out. With so many losing their jobs right now and suffering so greatly, volume two offers a chance for us to perhaps feel along with them a bit, to experience the desperation that might be experiencing, and more importantly, then, to act and help others.
stardf29: Yeah, I asked this question because I saw how the main conflict came about because of a major event suddenly being cancelled and couldn’t help but think, “well now, that suddenly sounds very familiar.” I suppose it’s true that there’s no real “life lessons” or anything going on here; the characters by and large act in their own self-interest to keep themselves going rather than try to change anything on a greater scale, even resorting to an “illegal” activity like smuggling to get by.
But maybe that is the “lesson” here: by and large, people are going to be concerned about themselves first and foremost. They simply can’t afford to care about everyone else’s problems when their own livelihood is at stake. At most, some people might care about a few others’ plights, like how Lawrence wanted the plan to succeed for Norah’s sake, even if that was largely brought on by the guilt from involving her in the first place. All this is to say that, while we can talk about the greater picture, we have to at least understand that most people are worried about themselves and their own survival, and interact with them with that in mind.
6. What are your thoughts on the illustrations for the Spice and Wolf light novels?
Jeskai Angel: There were illustrations?!
^ accurate reflection of how much of an impact the illustrations had on my experience with the book
I honestly can’t remember any of the pictures, despite having finished reading the book just a few days ago. To be fair, I tend to glance over the illustrations in most of the light novels I read, so this isn’t really a knock on Spice & Wolf in particular, but still, nothing stood out enough that I even recall the pictures.
TWWK: (Bad anime fan, you!) Illustrations are part of what makes light novels special, and Spice and Wolf’s stand out, both positively and negatively. Holo is shown partially nude, and I imagine it’s the same throughout the series, which I think hampers the potential audience for a work that must be packaged as “mature” when the writing is mature in a different way. Imagine younger audiences reading about ECONOMICS? There’s a missed opportunity here.
Otherwise, while I appreciate how the simplicity of the artworks and colors used on the cover convey the same rustic feel of the rest of the novel, they feel quite amateurish. I wonder if the growth of the light novel industry has led to better artists being part of it, because this more classic series features some of the worst art I’ve seen. That said, I haven’t read as many light novels as you two have, so my survey is limited.
(Jeskai Angel: *accepts rebuke* Yes, Twwk-senpai. I’ll do better in the future, senpai.)
stardf29: Looking over the illustrations, and I have to agree that the art isn’t really all that much of a highlight here in this volume. The simplicity of the art style is one thing here, but I think what really hurts the art in this volume is that it is pretty much all just characters. For the most part they aren’t really doing anything, and as a result the illustrations for this book is basically a glorified portrait gallery. (As a side note, there are other light novels that have this issue.)
It’s a bit unfortunate because vol. 1 was actually a fair amount better about this. There were some really nice illustrations there that actually captured events and emotions: ones like Holo clinging to Lawrence that uses a nice three-panel structure, or Holo in wolf form making an attack in the underground sewers. The art style might be simplistic but the pictures themselves are dynamic and interesting and there just wasn’t that in this volume. Hopefully we can see more of the good illustrations in later volumes.
And while in general I didn’t really care for the illustrations this volume, I did like the one of Norah holding her sheepdog. It might have still been more or less a portrait but at least it portrayed a bond between the two of them, so that was pretty nice.
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Thanks for joining our discussion! You can post your own answers and thoughts about the volume in the comments.
On April 30th we will announce our next titles, but here are some clues for those titles…
The cry of Selene
“…suppose that five taxa have been clustered by UPGMA based on a matrix of genetic distances.”
See you then!
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allie-writes · 4 years
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Word of Mouth
Rating: General Audiences Warnings: None apply Category: Gen Relationships: Ingrid Brandl Galatea & Sylvain Jose Gautier, Ingrid Brandl Galatea/Ashe Ubert (implied), Sylvain Jose Gautier/Felix Hugo Fraldarius (implied) Word count: 1866 Language: English Read on: Fanfiction.net | AO3
Ingrid, Sylvain, and rumours.
Ingrid sits with her back exemplarily straight, her prim posture at odds with the grime in her hair and the stains on her clothes. That much is almost nostalgic—Sylvain vaguely remembers the Ingrid of his youth being constantly covered in more filth than the rest of them combined, and terribly proud of the fact as well.
 “I’m honoured you’d think to stop by here, honestly,” he tells her, pouring a generous shot of brandy for Ingrid before putting the stopper back on the carafe.
 “You know I try to visit whenever I can find the time,” she replies in that fondly chiding tone Sylvain misses sometimes and leans back into the plush pillows of the lounge chaise she is occupying.
 Sylvain walks over to her and offers her the drink. Ingrid’s small smile is grateful as she accepts it. “I take it the knightly life is still doing it for you, then?” he asks.
 “Of course it is.”
 It’s easy to tell just by her expression, if Sylvain is being honest. She seems awfully comfortable in her skin nowadays, like she’s found the place she’d always been meant to be. Looking at her makes something terribly warm bubble up in the pit of his stomach.
 A log cracks in the fireplace; the salon is almost stiflingly warm. Still, Sylvain sits right next to Ingrid, leg up in her space as if he was twenty again and trying to get a rise out of her. She seems entirely unfazed now, and it’s a bit disappointing. “And you? Are you doing well, Margrave?”
 Sylvain snorts a little laugh at the title. “Oh yeah, all that official business is absolutely riveting,” he replies. “As you can imagine.”
 Ingrid rolls her eyes with a smile and takes a sip from her drink. “If there wasn’t more to your life, I’m pretty sure you would have gone insane by now,” she says, gently knocking her knee into Sylvain’s thigh.
 “Totally. Securing the border is a real blast.”
 This actually earns him a shove. “Oh, come now!” Ingrid scoffs. “I know for a fact you’ve been to Fhirdiad a few times over the past year!”
 “Then why do you ask?”
 She sighs. “I want to know how you are holding up, not what you’ve been doing, Sylvain.”
 It’s curious how much his name can sound like a mild insult, coming from Ingrid. He feels a bit dense, anyway. “I’m alright, really. Better, now that I got to see my dear friend Ingrid again, of course.”
 “We missed each other, the last time you came to Fhirdiad,” she replies, almost bashfully. She swivels her glass and watches the brandy lap at the walls. “It’s a shame, really. It was only for a supply-run, and yet I couldn’t be there.”
 Sylvain considers throwing an arm around her shoulders for a second or two but ultimately thinks better of it. Instead, he makes sure his words come out in the worst drawl he can manage. “If you started slacking on your duties to see me, I’d tell His Majesty that you’ve been kidnapped and replaced by an impostor.”
 Ingrid huffs, pretends not to smile, and leans into Sylvain’s side. It’s unlike her; she must really have missed him. “Thank Sothis that’s not the case, then,” she says, grinning fifteen years younger than her current age.
 She’s shockingly pretty like this, and some impulse born out of a bad old habit compels Sylvain to sling that arm around her after all. “I talked to Ashe. Did he tell you?” he asks, and feels rather than sees Ingrid nod.
 “He didn’t tell me what about, though. So, what did you talk about?”
 “Oh, you know, all the fun things Ashe likes. Knightliness, chivalry, politics, books... girls.” That earns Sylvain an elbow in the ribs. He laughs in order to hide the wince. “Really!” he insists.
 “I kind of have an inkling that you were to one to start with that topic,” Ingrid replies, and Sylvain can’t see it, but he could swear she’s battling a smile in that exasperated way of hers.
 “Well, we did talk about you.”
 “O-oh,” she mutters. That, apparently, makes more sense in her book. “Well, I hope he only had good things to say.”
 Sylvain hums. “I don’t think Ashe could badmouth anyone if he tried.”
 That earns him a laugh. “I agree,” Ingrid says and leans forward, twisting in her seat to meet Sylvain’s eye. There’s something mischievous to her expression. She puts her glass down before she continues, “And did you glean anything worthwhile from what he said?”
 “Except for the fact that you’re the most exemplary knight serving under His Majesty, a beacon of bravery, chivalry, all that is good and that you’re an inspiration to all? Not really.”
 Ingrid flushes and averts her eyes. “Coming from him,” she mumbles, more to herself than anything. She wets her lips and glances back towards Sylvain. “Nothing else, apart from that?”
 “What do you want me to say?” Sylvain asks. “That he told me something embarrassing? That he decided to tell me he was madly in love with you?”
 Swallowing, Ingrid stares off into the fireplace. She seems to be debating whether she should go on before she says, “Well, there are rumours about that.”
 She’s still leaning forward, and the distance between them suddenly feels like a mile. “There’s always rumours,” Sylvain replies. A hollow feeling settles into the pit of his stomach. He gathers his hands into his lap. “But it’s just people talking.”
 The gaze Ingrid fixes him with is downright painful. “That’s easy for you to say.”
 Which is—fair, Sylvain concedes. He’d used gossip and rumours to cultivate an image for the longest time. Something shallow, something dumb, something of a whore, something that was one hell of a lot easier to explain than the mess buried underneath.
 But still.
 “Are they true, then?” he asks, maybe to be a bit cruel. “Are you and Ashe—“
 “No, we’re not,” Ingrid says firmly, brows knitted together. Her eyebrows have always been much darker than her hair. Right now, they look ugly. “It’s none of your business, anyways.”
 The air between them stills. Ingrid’s shoulders are tense, her mouth in a severe frown. Sylvain regards Ingrid calmly, just watching her breathe until the crease in her brow eventually smoothes out.
 “I didn’t think it would get to me like this,” she admits, apologising after a fashion, as the tension is drained from her system. “People talking behind my back, more concerned about whether I am courting someone than my accomplishments...”
 There’s a glassy quality to her eyes as she stares off into the middle distance, voice shaky and frail. She feels tiny next to Sylvain, suddenly, and he’s acutely aware of where he misstepped. “See, Ingrid, that’s why all I do is try talking to Sreng without getting stabbed and visiting the capital every few months,” Sylvain says, forcing a lightness he doesn’t feel. But it gets Ingrid to snort a laugh and look at him again—forest green and fond—and it feels like a win.
 “Here I am, working every day of my life,” she says, her lips quirked into a smile, “only for the esteemed Margrave to earn more praises than I for botching diplomacy and being lazy.”
 Sylvain puts a hand to his chest, gasping. At the gesture, Ingrid snorts again. “You wound me! I don’t botch diplomacy. I’m just that charming.”
��She grins now, resting her elbow on the chaise’s armrest to prop her head up on her hand like some religious painting. “You know, I’m kind of surprised I don’t have to clean up after your scandals anymore.”
 “Should I break a maiden’s heart for old times’ sake, then?” Sylvain offers, only for Ingrid to roll her eyes. “Anything for you, you know.”
 “I don’t think I’ll ever hold ‘consoling crying village girls’ in fond memory,” she replies drily.
 Sylvain slides down in his seat, picking up Ingrid’s abandoned brandy and taking a swig of it. Her whole face scrunches up in disdain. “Fair enough,” he replies, licking his lips. “Doesn’t the rumour mill of Fhirdiad have some choice opinions on me?”
 “You know I don’t care for gossip.” She tries to sound blasé, but Ingrid has never been good at lying or hiding things, earnest as she is. “You probably know more than I do.”
 “Really,” Sylvain says, flatly. “C’mon, Ingrid, you know I’m used to worse. You don’t have to coddle me.”
 She sighs, seemingly relenting. “How’s Felix doing, Sylvain?” she asks, though, slow and deliberate and pregnant with meaning and—
 “Oh,” Sylvain breathes before he can catch himself, probably—tellingly—flushing all the way up to his hairline. Ingrid’s brows shoot up in surprise, eyes wide as dinner plates. Sylvain looks anywhere but her and slaps on a smile that fools exactly no one. “Oh, I haven’t heard from him in a while. Maybe you should pay him a visit on your way back, too,” he blathers, shooting for normalcy, really, but his voice comes out strained.
 “Y-yes, that’s a good idea!” Ingrid agrees, equally as flustered.
 A beat, then.
 “Maybe don’t share your gossip with him, though,” Sylvain suggests, “Goddess knows it might upset him.”
 There’s a very clear admission between the lines here. Ingrid plucks the brandy out of Sylvain’s grasp and downs the entire rest in one go. “I won’t,” she says, slamming the empty glass down on the coffee table. “He doesn’t care for it, anyways.”
 “I’m sure he’d listen if you decided to tell him that you and Ashe—“
 “For Sothis’ sake Sylvain, let it go!” she scolds, swatting at his arm. She looks pinker in the face now, and Sylvain has a hard time deciding whether it’s from the brandy or something else. “I was being delicate, and yet you—“
 “I know, I know. I’m impossible, nay, incorrigible.”
 Ingrid huffs and crosses her arms, yet seems satisfied with that answer. “As long as you know it,” she says, not without humour, and stands up. She offers Sylvain a hand to pull him to his feet as well, smiling something pretty and lopsided. “I think we should turn in for the night.”
 Sylvain closes his hand around Ingrid’s wrists before he finds himself dragged up way too easily considering Ingrid is a whole head shorter. “Maybe we should,” he agrees, so of course, neither of them moves.
 Ingrid sighs, looking up at Sylvain. “Don’t let what others say get to you,” she says, only two decades late. Then, more quietly, “I know rumours are worse when they’re based on some semblance of the truth.”
 “Ingrid,” Sylvain exhales, and has to shake his head to prevent himself from shoving his foot in his mouth. That’s all she’s going to tell him, and that’s fine. He smiles at her. “I’m sure they’ll be done preparing a room for you by now.”
 “Then we should be going.” Ingrid gallantly offers Sylvain her arm, and he loops his own through it with exaggerated words of thanks.  She smiles mischievously, then. “Can’t have any rumours spreading about us, after all,” she says, and Sylvain can’t help but laugh.
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