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#everyone loves luccas in this house
lunaferrous · 11 months
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/my favorite thing about luna is that she would literally die for and kill everyone who ever dares harm her family or those she loves. she is merciless because she has to be, because life was never easy for her. she is a child of violence without being violent if you really knew and loved her.
please tell me your favorite things about my portrayal/muse? | accepting.
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/Yes, absolutely. Listen, she's not good at making friends; that much is obvious. She's a cantankerous old, witchy woman in a young woman's body. She's bossy, she's mean, but it all serves a higher purpose. Her purpose. Not conforming to a state religion, not to the whims of an absentee God who frankly wouldn't care whether she lived or died.
No, she looks after own. She's still visceral and adamant not to trust anyone without the right precedent, but those she does allow in her inner circle are hers. Tradesmen, informants, couriers... friends and familiars who might as well be family, for as long they've stuck by each other. Even if she doesn't say it out loud.
Her only (canon) blood relative, her brother, Lucca, is... another mess that she will one day have to clean up. If the high lords of the house of the ninth circle ever deem it necessary to release him. Basically, he's the Winter Soldier on steroids.
But of course, she is a mama bear for her dear Lucina. No Hellsing Organization is going to take her for any reason, not under her watch. And while she knows that Alucard isn't in any need of protection, some small part of her can't help but worry for him. Especially for his mental and emotional state. She's knows it's highly illogical and frankly absurd, but hey that's what love is, among other things ♥.
@grandvizier
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themetallicnemesis · 3 years
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Tiny little references for my explorers heroes
Bonus partner:
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buckyownsmylife · 3 years
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Can’t seem to make you mine - Massimo Torricelli smut
The one where someone makes the mistake of hitting on you in front of Massimo.
Warnings: smut, semi-public sex, dirty talk, curse words.
A/N: This is... not my best work. Sorry. I was so excited to write about Don Massimo, mostly because everytime I read/watch something that I feel like it’s poorly written, I have the urge to correct it in someway or another. But alas, I’m tired, unmotivated and in a lot of pain. So I’m trying to keep this up as best as I can. Day 8 of kinktober, the prompts were possessiveness and knowing someone can hear you.
Y/N’s P.O.V.
I knew things would go south the second I felt Lucca’s eyes on me for the first time. We’d barely stepped inside the house where the dinner was being held, and I shivered despite the comfortable temperature of the environment.
It wasn’t the exciting kind of shiver, either, the one Massimo could elicit in me without trying. It was the one that appeared when we were certain that something bad was going to happen, like a premonition in itself, trying to warn us away from whatever course of action we’d decided for the evening.
Except this particular evening wasn’t in my hands. I hadn’t been the one to plan it and had only come after a lot of insistence on Massimo’s part, after he whined about having to spend the night away from me because of some stupid business dinner and that if I didn’t go, he might as well give up the whole ordeal and skip on the meeting himself.
I knew he was playing dirty, but at the same time, I loved the idea that he just needed me that much. So I put on a simple red dress and accompanied him into the house of one of his oldest associates, ready to be bored out of my mind as the men discussed numbers or murders behind closed doors while the women and other guests mingled and drank the night away. 
The problem was that I didn’t have any friends amongst the other people invited, having long ago been ostracized by the trophy wives and sugar babies when they realized I actually had a job and didn’t depend on Massimo for a living. So all I had to keep me company was the bartender hired for the evening and whatever amount of whiskey I could drink before Massimo decided to leave.
“Not the kind of drink I expected to see a woman like you enjoying.” Fourteen words and I already felt like puking. I didn’t bother to turn to look at him as I rolled my eyes to the polite man behind the counter, who simply gave me a sympathetic smile.
“Oh, well. The more you know,” was all I said, keeping my voice distant and detached as I twirled the liquid in my hands and prayed to the heavens the blond man by my side decided to give up before Massimo noticed him standing too close.
“Yes, well… I would very much like to know more of you.” Fuck. I really was gonna have to be upfront about it.
Sighing, I finally turned to stare at the man I’d been briefly introduced to after arriving.
“And I’m sorry to report that the interest isn’t reciprocated, but I’m here with Massimo and for Massimo, so if you can just leave me be, I’d greatly appreciate that.” Lucca blinked a few times, his pretty little smile almost falling from his face, like he didn’t actually expect to be dismissed.
There was something off about the whole situation. I could understand hitting on a girl without knowing she had a date, maybe when she had one, if you thought you could take on the guy, but he’d seen me with Massimo. Did he not know who my boyfriend was? Was he somehow unafraid of Don Torricelli? 
Both ideas sounded ludicrous, and it only made my skin crawl with mistrust. Just what was this guy’s endgame? Despite the momentary break in his mask, he quickly returned to his wanna-be charming self, his predatory smile still directed at me.
“Well, he’s not here now, is he? I’m sure he wouldn’t even notice if you followed me upstairs and…” I didn’t even realize what I was doing until it was done and Lucca was staring back at me with his mouth hanging open, the whiskey that was once in the glass in my hands now dripping from his expensive suit.
The chatter all around the room had stopped, too, everyone’s eyes on us as I tried very hard to control my own breathing. The nerve of this man, thinking I would EVER consider cheating on Massimo, much less with someone as sleazy as him!
“Principessa?” I heard my boyfriend’s voice approaching, but I was still trembling from the anger running in my veins. “What is going on, my love?” Massimo’s hands engulfed me, wrapping themselves around my body before pulling my back to meet his chest, and for the first time since he had left me to talk to his partners, I felt myself becoming calmer. 
“This man thought he could seduce me,” I explained coldly, my eyes still connected to Lucca’s as he wiped the drink from his face with a handkerchief the bartender had produced from behind the counter. I was expecting to see fear appear in his face, or at least for him to lose some of the vivacity that was still behind his eyes, but when no change appeared other then the loss of his smile, since his lips were now pressed together in a tight line, I was left even more confused.
“Is that so?” Massimo asked, clicking his tongue from behind me, his fingers possessively holding onto my hips. I could hear that at least he was amused by the situation, from the tone of his voice, but I had no idea why. “Will you look at that? I’m sorry to disappoint you, Lucca, I’m sure you’ll find someone else to fuck away your resentment towards me later tonight. For now, excuse me and my girlfriend, I wanna make sure that she’s okay.”
My boyfriend’s reaction was so unexpected to me that he practically had to drag me away from the living room where all eyes were still on us, taking me to one of the hallways where I assumed the bathrooms were located.
“Massimo!” I whisper-shouted, absolutely frazzled by his and everyone else’s behavior that evening. “What the hell is going on?” But Massimo didn’t seem in the least worried about my own confusion, his eyes drinking me in against the maroon walls of the hallways with even more desire than earlier in the evening, when I had to force him to leave our bedroom so we could make it on time for this dinner. “Massimo!” I tried again, finally breaking him from his trance as he blinked twice before connecting his eyes with mine, licking his lips.
“What was it, baby girl? You really look delectable tonight, have I told you that before?” He answered, leaning over me until I was trapped between his body and the wall, my irritation suddenly disappearing to give place to the instinctive desire that filled my body everytime Massimo came near me. Especially when he was nuzzling on my neck like he was doing right at that moment.
“Yes, you have. Massimo, what’s going on?” I asked, suddenly startled by the realization that he was working on opening his belt. “What are you doing? Massimo, we can’t do this here!” I admonished him, but he already had a grip over himself, his other hand swiftly looking for my panties before pushing it away and plunging a thick finger inside of me, checking my wetness.
“Oh, we can and we will. You know why, principessa?” He picked me up like I weighed nothing, and I wrapped my legs around him instinctively, my head falling back against the wall as one of his hands rubbed the thick head of his cock against my clit. “Because you are mine.”
Feeling Massimo stretch out my walls was something that took the breath away from me every single time he first pushed in, it didn’t matter how many times I had him inside of me. He was always too fucking large, his cock too fat for my pussy - especially when he didn’t gave me the proper preparation, like now. 
“And you’ll let me do whatever I want with this perfect body, won’t you? Especially after one of my biggest enemies had the nerve to try to hit on you.” Gasping, I held onto Massimo’s nape as I tried my best to contain my moans by biting my lower lip. “None of that, baby girl, I want you to scream my name. Show him you’re mine and only mine. C’mon, cum for me. Scream my name. Let them all know you belong to me. That I own this fucking pussy.”
The sounds of my wetness and his body meeting mine were certainly being heard throughout the room by now, how much worse could it be if I simply relented and fulfilled my very possessive and incredibly insecure boyfriend’s wishes? I’d never truly know, because then Massimo’s thumb met my clit and I was instantly out of control of my own body, screaming his name as my cunt milked his cum inside of me.
“I don’t know how to get back there,” I admitted, embarrassed just by the thought of walking out into the very fancy dinner after they had all but witnessed me getting railed by the smug Don that looked unfairly sexy after our franctic lovemaking. 
“With your head high, knowing you’re the only one who can make me lose my mind like that, and my cum dripping down your legs. Now let’s go, bella.”
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bopbopstyles · 4 years
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TEMPTATION IN ITALY
RATING: R/smut (overstimulation, light spanking, bit of choking, pure tender filth)
WORD COUNT: 9.4k
CATEGORIES: fratboy!harry, italy!harry
MASTERLIST | INSPO TAG
a/n: it’s a Temptation extra for @bfharry ‘s boyfriendathon!!!!! i’ve been mulling this concept over since i finished Temptation, and I’m so excited to finally have it written and done. s/o to liv for the push to write it, @harrysclementines for checking out my italian and inspiring many parts of this, and to my best friend a***** for being the one to take me to lucca, where this fic is set. harry’s house in this fic is based of hers. 
if you haven’t read TEMPTATION, you can do so here: part one | part two | part three 
“Cherry,” he mumbled, her nickname falling from his lips, dripping with desire as he stepped towards her. “You have to let me buy this.”
She leveled her gaze to his, trying to play with him, her favorite activity. “And why is that?”
His fingers ran over the see-through lace, the pebbles of her nipples visible through the material. “Because I can’t promise I won’t rip it off you later, and I know how much you hate it when I ruin your underwear.”
Nora’s breath caught in her throat at his words, body keening under the his touch. “I’ll allow it,” she replied, voice hoarse in her throat. “As long as you let me choose where you fuck me.”
or
Harry buys Nora some lingerie and it leads to some overstimulation on countertops in Italy
pls reblog and share with your friends 💕
Nora’s eyes swept across Harry, the sight of him curled up next to her on the bed bringing a lazy smile to her face as usual. Sometimes she was overwhelmed by how much she simply wanted to spend every waking moment with him, even doing things as simple as this: lying in bed next to him, the sheets pushed down to his waist, one of his arms across her torso, his face pressed into the pillow next to her, breath fluttering from his lips.
The lack of air conditioning in Italy had taken her a while to get used to, but she had finally adjusted and now loved lying in bed, completely naked with Harry, breeze from the open window next to the bed blowing across their bodies. Their other friends had been there for the first two weeks, Nash, Niall, Maddy, Lauren, Taylor, and a couple of Harry’s other frat brothers who Nora had gotten to know in recent months. It was August and they’d all finished their summer internships and decided to take advantage of Harry’s family house in Lucca, which was empty and waiting for them. Everyone had packed up left the morning before, and now it was just her and Harry left in the big house for another week. After that, they were heading back to campus to move into their rooms for senior year and back to reality.
Being there in Italy, with him, the simplicity of life, made her love him more than she could ever imagined and the last thing she wanted to do was leave.
Suddenly, she felt pressure on her side and Harry’s eyes were fluttering open, his green irises meeting hers. “Morning, baby,” he mumbled, lifting his head to press a kiss to her shoulder. “Been awake long?”
She shook her head and rolled over so she was facing him, and traced a finger down the side of his face. A lazy smile flickered across his lips at the feeling. “Not too long. Using the time to watch you without you getting all antsy.”
He tugged her body flush to his and she giggled as he licked at her neck. “Mhm, you’re sweaty.”
“H, that’s gross.”
“No it’s not, just sweat.” He licked at her neck again and she squirmed. “You sweat when I fuck you and have no problem with me licking at you then, so what’s the difference?”
How did the words fuck you make her want him immediately. “Your brain is disgusting,” she said, pushing at him. “Come on, I’m hungry and it’s your turn to cook breakfast.”
His hands pulled on her as she tried to get up, but she slipped through his grasp and he fell back against the bed. “You just like watching me make you breakfast.”
Nora shrugged, and pulled an old DSig shirt out of their chest of drawers, which had become a mixed mess over the weeks. He had ended up in one of her shirts without realizing it, much to the amusement of Nash and the boys, but Nora found it endearing, watching him pull at her oversized button down before realizing the reason it didn’t fit right was because it wasn’t his, but not taking it off. “You’re a good cook.”
Finally, Harry pushed at the sheets and stood up, his completely naked body drawing her eyes in. “Thanks, baby. Pass me some pants?”
She threw a pair of briefs at him and he pulled them on, the material barely covering any of his body, but she didn’t mind in the least. “I’ll start the coffee.”
“As if you know how to work the machine.”
“It’s not my fault it’s all in Italian!”
He laughed and followed her downstairs to the kitchen. She flicked the radio on, Italian ballads filling the room. She loved the kitchen, the simple white cabinets and granite countertops, wooden table and chairs pushed to the side, an island that she usually sat at as Harry cooked. There were windows all the way around, which she opened and let the sunlight in, birds chirping outside.
Harry’s family home was up in the hills outside Lucca, a narrow one-way road winding past houses and an abandoned old church. The house itself was white with multi-colored stone, tall and slim-shaped trees outside next to a small fountain that had a table next to it where they ate dinner most nights. Inside, the house was two stories plus a basement, five bedrooms to properly house Harry’s extended family during the holidays, and two small living rooms overstuffed with books and comfortable couches for mid-afternoon naps. Outside, there was a pool that overlooked the rolling green hills, and a bathhouse with an extra bedroom. All in all, it was heaven and Nora never wanted to leave.
Harry hummed along to some Italian Top 40s song while he scrambled some eggs and toasted two pieces of toast and Nora put together some fruit to go along with it, grabbing some fresh peaches from the bowl. Harry’s neighbor had a peach tree in their front yard and had brought by some the previous day and they were delicious. She managed to get the coffee machine working after bugging Harry for reminders on which button did what, and poured two cups for them, setting one next to the stove for Harry as he finished up cooking.
They ate outside on the patio, a pair of sunglasses balanced on Harry’s curls as they basked in the morning sunshine. “It’s so quiet,” he said to her after setting down his fork, a finished plate in front of him. “Like our friends, but it’s nice to be just us for a bit.”
“Mhm,” she hummed, scooting closer to him on the bench at the table so he could place his arm around her shoulders. “Now I can love on you any time I want.”
“Oh?” Harry ducked down and looked at her, a coy smile on his face. “And you couldn’t before? I seem to remember plenty of loving—“
“Shut up,” she said, swatting at his chest, and he chuckled. “They just always made fun of me, or you. Now no one is going to be whining about us making out in the pool.”
Harry kissed her temple, and then lifted his coffee cup to his lips. “Right about that, love.” She picked up her abandoned peach and took a bite, the juices dribbling down her chin. “What do you want to do today? Swim or go into town?”
Nora considered the options, before deciding on town. “Can we rent bikes again? And I want a gelato.”
“Sure, baby. Want to go get changed and I’ll wash up?” She nodded, pressing a kiss to his lips chastely before scampering into the house. She took a quick shower, wanting to start the day fresh, and put some sunscreen on her skin which had grown darker from the sun over the past few weeks. Harry came into their room as she was fumbling through their clothes, trying to find a pair of specific pair of shorts.
“Have you seen my denim shorts?” She asked him, not even looking up. “The ones with the longer fringe at the back?”
She felt his hands on her hips, his chin coming to rest on her shoulder. “No, not since you wore them last. Gotta be here somewhere—you didn’t put them in the wash, did you?”
His longer hair tickled at her cheek and she smiled at the feeling. “I didn’t. Fuck—I’ll find them. Go get ready, you menace.”
With a squeeze to her hips, he moved away to the bathroom so he could wash his face and brush his teeth. Nora found her shorts at the back of the drawer, and pulled that and a white tank top on, keeping her clothes simple and light so she didn’t sweat through them immediately. Harry ended up in a white t-shirt and grey trousers, a hair clip attached to the waist for his longer locks, a handkerchief tied around his neck that she tugged on to bring his lips to hers.
He fiddled with her hand on the center console as he drove into town, the radio on low volume filling the silence in the car, windows open as they passed houses on the hill. She watched the sights go by, wondering how such a beautiful place could exist. They parked the car right outside the old city walls and walked the distance to the bike shop where they had rented them before.
“Due biciclette per favore,” Harry said to the man in the shop. Nora thumbed through a guidebook on the counter as Harry spoke to the man, their conversation in Italian passing right over her head.
“Per te e la tua ragazza?” The man replied.
“Sì.”
“Lei è piuttosto bella.”
“Tieni le mani lontane da lei!” Harry laughed as he said the words, some joke probably passing between them.
“Sì, sì, certo. Lei è troppo buona per te, lo sai.”
“Lo so.”
Nora swung a leg over her bike and pushed her sunglasses into place, waiting for Harry to get himself together behind her. “What were you two talking about?” She asked as he adjusted his pants so they didn’t get caught on the chains.
“You,” he responded nonchalantly.
“Me?”
He looked up at her and nodded. “He said you were gorgeous, and I told him to keep his hands off my girl. He said you were too good for me.”
Nora scoffed and pushed off the street, pedaling with Harry next to her. “Got that the wrong way ‘round.”
He gave her a smile, and then moved into tourist mode, pointing out the landmarks he had shown her. He knew how much she loved history and that she wouldn’t mind hearing it all again, so he told her stories about the old jail cells and the city walls, the wide gravel tree-lined paths full of other pedestrians and dogs on leashes. They talked about Italian politics, since Harry actually read the newspaper and kept up on the news. He told her old stories about his family visiting and Harry getting lost in the streets, before finally finding his mom at a gelato shop where he went because he wanted something sweet. When they had made a loop around the city, they turned into the streets, carefully maneuvering through the crowds and avoiding the streets with the expensive shops, where people gathered. Instead, they stuck to the back roads and they’d stop every once in a while so Harry could take photos on a film camera he had bought before they’d left the States. He wanted to take it up as a hobby, and thought where was a better place to try it out than Italy?
Nora sent photos of the yellow and tan exteriors of the buildings to send to her mother, one in an endless stream of photos that made her mom jealous of her trip. When they got hungry, they stopped for gelato, and sat outside at a shop next to a bunch of kids who were speaking rapidly in Italian. Harry kept stealing bites from Nora’s, but she shoved his hands away, reminding him that he got his own for a reason. His fingers were sticky when he pulled her chin towards him to kiss her, and his lips tasted like his lemon gelato.
They ditched the bikes in favor of walking around, and they wove in and out of the shops, Nora trying on clothes that Harry picked out before objecting to the price and refusing to let Harry pay for them for her. They tried on sunglasses at one of the street vendors and Harry got some, a pair of brown wide-frame glasses that he tucked into his shirt. He bought a leather notebook that resembled the ones that he wrote lyrics in, and Nora decided to get one of her own, telling Harry she needed to start journaling to remember all the good memories they shared. He took photos of her against a pink building, smelling flowers in a courtyard, and just walking in front of him. In his eyes, it was impossible to not feel beautiful, Nora thought to herself.
Somehow they ended up in an Italian lingerie shop, much to Harry’s joy. “Baby, pleaseee…” He held a white lace set up in front of her, the material mostly mesh and lace, basically full see through. Most times, Nora might have refused him, but after a day spent solely in his company, Nora was wrapped around his finger, just as he was around hers. And the look in his eyes of desire and mischief had her smiling at him.
“Fine,” she replied, and tugged him back to the dressing room with her, much to the amusement of the saleswoman.
He stood outside of the room while she changed, pushing off her shorts and shirt and toying with the delicate material. “Got it on?” He asked, voice low through the flimsy door.
“Almost.” She tugged at the bra straps, situating the cups on her chest. In the mirror, her hair was a mess of sweat and wind, cascading around her shoulders in curls, her face flushed from the sun. She pushed a strand behind her ear and hoped Harry would like it. “Okay,” she said, unlocking the door.
“Thank god, didn’t know if I—fuck.” His words stopped the moment he stepped inside and set his eyes on her body. Quickly, he shut the door behind him, locking it, their bodies close in the narrow dressing room. Nora stood there as his eyes criss-crossed over her body, taking in the sight in front of him. Her shy smile, her sunkissed skin, brown eyes that stared up at him. “Cherry,” he mumbled, her nickname falling from his lips, dripping with desire as he stepped towards her. “You have to let me buy this.”
She leveled her gaze to his, trying to play with him, her favorite activity. “And why is that?”
His fingers ran over the see-through lace, the pebbles of her nipples visible through the material. “Because I can’t promise I won’t rip it off you later, and I know how much you hate it when I ruin your underwear.”
Nora’s breath caught in her throat at his words, body keening under the his touch. “I’ll allow it,” she replied, voice hoarse in her throat. “As long as you let me choose where you fuck me.”
Harry’s lip tucked between his teeth at her words. “Yeah? Want to choose where I take you?” She nodded, and his fingers drifted over her skin, barely touching it and raising goosebumps in his path. “It’s a deal, baby. Now take it off so I can buy it and get you home.”
Harry followed Nora on her heels, her laughter bouncing off the walls of the house as he kept trying to grab at her hips as she moved through the hallways. Her curls bouncing as she swept your head back and forth, scampering away every time he got closer to her. Seeing her dark hair flutter against the white walls had Harry feeling like he was in a movie, moving in slow motion after the love of his life, barely able to keep her in his grasp.
They didn’t bother closing the doors or the windows in the bedroom, Harry pressing her against the wall with a gasp from her mouth. His lips danced down her neck, sucking and pulling at her skin, his name wet on her tongue. Hands pulled at his hair and fell to his shirt, her fingers scrambling push it up before he leaned back to help her, his handkerchief going with it. When it was off, her mouth attached to his skin, hot lips searing through Harry’s nerves, a rush of adrenaline at the feeling of her on him.
“Nora,” he begged, fingers digging into the curve of her ass, tugging her hips towards his. Without hesitating, her teeth brushed over the mark she had made on him, making him hiss. “Baby, please.” His words were raw and rough, desperate to have her. He could never get enough of her, the way she made him feel, the sounds she made in his arms, the way she looked up at him under long eyelashes, a coy smile that begged for more.
“I need to go change into my new lingerie,” she said, nudging at his chin. It was a soft movement, one that just asked him to stay close to her, and he loved it.
“I know I said that,” he replied, pulling at her skin with his hands, loving how she gasped at the cold of his rings, “but now I really don’t give a fuck.”
“Hmm,” she murmured, running a finger down his chest. “But I do.”
With a sigh, Harry let go of her waist, letting her drop to the ground. She kissed his jaw before turning away, the bag from the lingerie store in her hands as she went into the bathroom. Harry ran a hand down his face, heart fluttering in his chest. He just needed her. It was a carnal need, something beyond reason, the very same feeling that had lingered inside of him since the moment he first touched her. It never left him—the desire to have her close, to touch her skin, to make her moan his name. He was addicted to it, and he had no plans to quit.
He fell to the bed, head hitting the pillows, and stared at the closed door. Behind it, he imagined Nora naked, fumbling with the straps and the lace. He easily conjured the image of her in it earlier and he cursed himself for not taking her in that dressing room. Who gave a fuck if anyone heard them.
“Taking forever in there,” he called out to her, getting antsy from his spot on the bed. He had propped his head up on the pillows, giving him a perfect view of the door.
“Somebody’s impatient.” Her voice was music to his ears, sweet and rough.
He scratched at his hair, pulling at the long strands as he waited. “What can I say, love? I’m—holy fucking hell.”
She kept doing that, interrupting his stream of words by opening the door and standing there, naked and bare for him except for the flimsy material covering her body. The white lace clung to her skin, the picture of innocence that he knew she was anything but. Somehow that made it even more alluring, the dichotomy of the delicate lace and the coy smile on her face. Harry sat up and let his eyes trail over her skin, the rise and fall of her curves, the way her breasts strained against the edge of the bra, gaze following the V of the underwear to where he wanted her most.
He swallowed with difficulty, throat suddenly dry at the sight of her, sunlight from outside making her skin glow in front of him. “Cherry…” He trailed off, unable to finish his sentence, completely overwhelmed by her.
But then she opened her sinful, delicious mouth, and set Harry’s body ablaze. “I want you to fuck me on the kitchen counter.”
He practically choked. “What?”
She shifted, moving towards him like an animal prowling its prey. “I want you to fuck me on the kitchen counters. The same ones where you make me breakfast every morning. You said I could choose where, right?” When her fingers drifted across his forehead lightly, Harry keened into her, desperate for her touch. She bent her head and whispered low in his ear, “Well I want it on the counters. Every counter.”
That had Harry in motion. He stood, pulling her up so that her legs were around his waist, feet clasped at his lower back. Her hands threaded through his hair and pulled, making his neck tip back as she kissed him. Harry moved through the house blind, unable to see anything but her, but somehow he made it down the stairs without tripping, through the narrow hallways, and finally to the kitchen, the afternoon sunlight hitting the tile perfectly. The windows were open and you could hear the breeze, the soft chirp of the birds, the hint of cicadas. He was going to give her her wish—to fuck her on every one of these counters, fill this kitchen with memories of her moaning against him, let anyone who neared the house hear her call his name.
He dropped her to the counter closest to him, her bare bottom except for the lace panties she wore hitting the smooth granite with a thud. “Want me to fuck you on the counters?” He mumbled, lips tugging at hers, hands cupping her face as he kissed her. Without even meaning to, he pushed his hips into her clothed center and he was suddenly thankful for the lower height of the counters, because it meant she was the perfect height for him. “I can do that, baby.”
Nora’s lips were a dark pink when he pulled away, eyes blown out with desire, hair a mess behind her shoulders from his hands. “H,” she breathed, pushing at his pants, “please.”
“‘m coming, love,” he told her, pushing off his trousers so he was in nothing but his briefs. Then, he dropped to his knees. He wanted to taste her first, he decided. And then he was going to make her come until she physically couldn’t anymore, barely giving her time to recover. They’d talked about it before—overstimulation. She had mentioned that she liked it, like being able to barely think as he touched her, like it when he fucked her from one orgasm to the next without pause. He had been rolling it over in his head, considering a time to experiment with more, to see how far she could go.
Now, he decided, was the time.
His fingers danced up her legs, and Nora gasped at the feeling. “As much as I love this set, it needs to come off now.” He punctuated the sentence with a searing tug at her inner thighs with his lips, sucking her skin into his mouth and making a pop sound when he let go. It made her squirm on the countertops and her hands were beginning to get wet from sweat, the combination of the heat and the feeling of Harry’s hands on her making her body temperature rise.
The lace slid against the granite as he pulled it off of her, Nora lifting her hips just enough for him to be able to clear the curve of her ass. When her panties were on the floor, Nora let her thighs fall open and she just sat there, skin aflame from Harry’s gaze.
“Beautiful,” he breathed, fingers brushing around her pussy; a whine leaving her lips that made Harry smile. “Squirmin’ for me, hmm?”
He knew she loved it when he talked, she’d told him many, many times, and so he had thrown his filter out long ago. Now, he said whatever popped into his brain, and usually it was a mess of compliments and teases about how much he wanted her, because none of it was lie. Hands clasped around the back of her knees and tugged so that her pussy was on the edge of the counter, the cold granite on her hot skin. She looked utterly delectable, pink lips waiting for him, the soft rolls of her stomach fluttering with each breath, her breasts heaving in her bra. “H…oh, god.” When his lips attached to her clit, one of her hands threaded through his hair and tugged his face closer to her, the stubble on his chin brushing across her slit. “Fuck,” she panted, rolling her hips for more of the roughness, needing anything she would give him.
Harry kneaded her hips in his hands, loving the weight of his rings on her smooth and sensitive skin. “Feel good?” He asked, licking over her nub and listening to her keen, wet and breathy echos of yes floating through the air. Then he couldn’t torture her anymore, the sight of her hole clenching around nothing just sending him into a tailspin. So he moved one of his hands and pressed his index finger to her slit, the callused touch rough against her but just what she needed. She sighed at the pressure and Harry watched in delight as her wetness let him slide right in, all the way up to the ring on his finger.
She bucked against him, demanding more, and Harry dove back in, pumping in and out of her with his one finger and curling inside of her as he devoured her clit with his mouth. He rolled her nub with his tongue and then sucked, letting his teeth brush against it and smiling as she shook against him. “More,” she begged, pushing towards him, her one hand on the counter barely able to support her quivering body.
So he added a second finger, his middle finger joining his index inside of her, and she sighed at the stretch. “Fucking drenched,” he mumbled as he watched her eyes flutter shut at the feeling. “So wet for me, baby. Can you hear it?”
All she could do. was nod, the sensations overwhelming her—his fingers inside of her, the slickness of her juices as he pumped hard and fast into her, curling at her rear walls. The way he played with her clit, torturing her as he licked over her, sucking and pulling, the stubble on his chin rough against her skin. It was fucking heaven, and she never wanted it to stop. “Gonna come,” she whined, clenching around his fingers and in his hair, fingernails scraping against his scalp.
“Want it,” he mumbled against her clit, the vibrations making her back arch. “Come for me, princess. Please? Want to feel you come on my fingers. Want to watch it drip out of you. Come on, baby.”
Nora couldn’t control it anymore, and she was coming in a second, her body shaking and stuttering on the counter, hand sliding for hold on something, but failing. Harry held her hips in place so she didn’t slide off the counter, and anchored her there as he pumped her through her orgasm, licking at her clit until she was begging for him to stop. Her walls fluttered around his fingers and he loved it, but what he loved even more was removing his fingers from her and the strands of her come that he saw when he pulled away. He moved his lips from her clit to her slit, and licked over her hole, the sight of her quivering exactly what he wanted. When he pulled his lips away he watched a bit of come drip from her hole, weepy and red, and could barely look away.
Then he moved his fingers to her mouth, tapping them to her bottom lip to ask her to open. Which she did. Happily. She bobbed her head like she would on his dick and Harry about came right there and then. But he couldn’t—he had a task at hand that he hadn’t completed.
His head swiveled around the kitchen, counting quickly. “There’s four open counters in here,” he said eyes finding hers again. “Want you to come on every one of them.”
Her eyes widened, processing what he was saying and asking of her. Permission for him to go more intense than he had in the past. But instead of fear of discomfort running through her body, all she felt was desire. “Only if I get you inside of me for all of them,” she replied, taunting him, seeing how long he could last for her.
“Oh baby,” he said, coming to full height and brushing her sweaty hair off of her forehead. “As if I’d pass up the opportunity to feel you come around me.”
In an instant he was moving her to the next counter, the dreaded coffee machine to the right of her and the fridge on the left. Their lips found each other in a mess of teeth and tongue, Nora’s hands pushing at his briefs and Harry unclasping her bra, desperate to see her bare for him. When her breasts fell, he traded her lips for her nipples, rolling them into his mouth. At the same time, Nora had gotten his briefs down enough for his cock to poke out and her hand was on him immediately, tugging at a pace that was going to make him come if he didn’t stop her.
“Nor,” he said, pulling on her hand so it wasn’t on his dick, but instead on his back. “Goin’ to make me come if you keep that up.”
“Then how about you fuck me?”
She knew how to push all of his buttons and adored doing it. It drove Harry crazy, that she could make him beg for her with just a handful of words—the control she had over him was unlike anything he’d ever experienced before, and he loved every second of it. “Legs up, baby,” he told her, tapping on her knees. She followed his directions immediately, shifting closer to him and pulling her knees up and clasping her feet around his middle.
Harry knew he wouldn’t need much lubricant, but he decided to add a bit more just so he didn’t hurt her—he knew she was sensitive. So he let spit fall from his lips, the slickness of it landing right on his dick. He pumped it one, covering his length, and then he nudged his tip into her. Nora gasped his name immediately, and his eyes moved to hers, not wanting to miss his favorite moment—when he pushed into her. Which he did, in one fluid motion that had her curling into him.
She was wet, insanely wet from her orgasm and the build-up, and tight, her walls clenching around him as he sat inside of her, flush to the hilt. Nora’s arm wrapped around his shoulder and pressed her head to the crook of his neck, unable to hold herself up anymore, which Harry didn’t mind in the slightest. He loved it when she hung onto him, her trust in him enough to let him control their movements. Harry’s hands moved to her hips and he held them steady as he pulled back and slid back into her, a guttural groan leaving his lips at the feeling of her fluttering around him. “God, baby, you feel so good. Made for me, you know? How did I get so lucky?”
His words were a mess and he didn’t care; he knew she wouldn’t judge what he said. When her fingernails dug into his skin he took it as a sign for more, and so he set about his task—making his girl come again. She liked it fast and hard, loved it when he hit her back walls and made her scream. So he would give her exactly what she wanted.
Harry drove into her at a pace that would probably leave bruises on her thighs, but she didn’t care in the slightest. She panted into his ear, his name echoing around them as his dick pushed in and out of her. Ever since they’d gone bare the first time they had never gone back, them both adoring how close it made them feel. And in moments like this, with Nora draped over his body, all of her weight balanced on him, him pushing into her fast and deep, it was as if they were inside one another.
When Nora clamored at his back, hands pulling at his taught skin and a scream ripped through her throat, he knew he found her g-spot. “That it, baby? Hmm?” She nodded furiously into his skin, teeth coming down on the muscle of his shoulder and Harry grunted from the feeling. “’S mine, yeah?”
“Yours,” she moaned, and then she rolled her hips in a slight circle and Harry faltered at the feeling. “Yours, Harry, I’m yours.”
His head hung on her shoulder, and from there he could cast his eyes down and see his dick entering her barely, their skin slapping against each other. “Holy shit,” he said through clenched teeth. “I don’t know how much longer I can hold off.”
Nora took the situation into her own hands, finding the ability to hold herself up. She pulled away from his neck and rested on one hand, shifting her weight so that she could slither her hand down the length of her body. Her fingers rubbed at her clit and Harry was captured by the sight, her fingers rolling across her wetness as he slammed into her, chasing their orgasms. “I’m close,” she said, walls bearing down on him.
“Me too,” he said, head tilting back. “I’ll come when you do.”
She nodded, knowing how much he loved it when she came and that it usually made him come immediately. It was just one example of how much his body was obsessed with her, his own desire intrinsically tied up in hers. “Come on, love,” she looked up at him, capturing his attention. “Make me come?”
He pulled her lips to his and drove into her at a pace unmatched by his previous one, slamming into her with his full force, sliding into her so fast he could barely keep himself up. He was pushing his weight into her, the hand not on her waist clenching the edge of the countertop. “Come for me, baby,” he mumbled, “want to come in you. Please, Nora, please.”
With one more circle of her hand on her clit she faltered, a scream of his name ripping through her lips and he let it, loving how it reverberated in the room. That she didn’t have to hide it, that he could have it all. She clenched around him and it made his breath choke in his throat, hands curling as he came. Ropes of come inside of her, coating her walls, panting against her lips as he kissed her messily, just wanting to be close to her.
When he regained his normal breathing and feeling in his body, he leaned back slightly, not enough where he pulled out from her, but just enough to where he could look at her. “Gonna move ya,” he said, arms coming around her back. She nodded and held onto him like a koala as he lifted her, moving to a countertop a few paces away, on the other side of the stove. He stayed inside of her the whole time and even though he was softer than before, he wasn’t fully soft because the feeling of her walls fluttering and his tip shifting inside of her as he stepped had him hissing through his teeth.
“Sensitive?” She asked, running a hand through his hair.
“Worried abut me?”
She smiled at him, a soft one full of love and adoration. “Not worried. Just want to make sure it’s not too much.”
“Fuck no,” he replied, shaking his head. “’S perfect. Gonna make you come around me as I get hard,” he told her, and she bit into her lip at the thought. “Like the sound of that?”
“Yeah,” she said, elbows resting on his shoulders. “Like it a lot.”
Harry kissed her, licking into her mouth and savoring the taste of her, sweet like honey on his tongue. The way her hands pulled on his hair, not minding that it was sweaty and a disaster, just wanted something to hold onto. “Wish we’d brought some toys,” he mumbled when he pulled away, the idea of making her come with him inside and vibrator on her clit suddenly filling his imagination.
Her eyebrows shot up. “Why didn’t you?”
“Had to fit all your goddamn swimsuits into our bags that didn’t quite fit, did it?”
Nora laughed, her eyes crinkling at the sides. “You love my swimsuits, you ass.”
She was right. He loved them, the way they barely covered her body, the different colors and patterns on her skin that he got to pull off after their time in the pool—or if he was lucky, while they were in the pool. He decided he’d see if he could fuck her in the pool tomorrow. He planned on taking her every day of the week while they were here. “I do, baby. Love ‘em almost as much as I love you.” Then, he pushed two of his fingers into his mouth, wetting them on his tongue and letting her watch him, eyes never leaving him.
With that, his fingers pushed between their hips, her softening her back so that his hand could slide against her. And he set a brutal pace immediately, the wetness from his spit meaning he could move against her furiously. The feeling of her clenching around him as he began to draw her closer to her high, her body beyond sensitive after two orgasms, was enough for him to be nearly hard immediately. “H,” she breathed, head lolling back on her neck at the feeling of him rubbing against her.
She was shaking as he rolled her clit between his fingers, and then made a counter-clockwise circle, finger tips brushing above her slit where they were connected. That spot in particular made her moan, a desperate sound that made him want more. He was desperate for her to come, wanting to see her fall apart around him again, the sight one that he wished could go in a museum. Every museum in Italy should have a photo of her when she came.
He made a mental note to grab his camera the next time they had sex—he wanted to immortalize the sight.
When she sharply yelped, hips bucking into his, his eyes flickered across her. “Too much?”
She shook her head, lifting it so she could look at him. “Need more. Please, H.”
“What do you need baby?”
Nora’s hand drifted from his bicep to his neck, securely fastening to its side, the pressure making him zero in on her. “Need you to fuck me again. Can you do that?”
“Fuck me.” His groan was drawn-out and low in his throat. “Yeah, I can do that.” It was like her demand had made him hard again, his body wanting to do nothing less than please her. “Want me like this again, angel?”
“Mhm,” she hummed, unable to form words, but the sound was enough for him to know she did.
“Your wish is my command.” And then he drew back, using their come from before and the slickness of her juices as lubricant as he slid back into her, the feeling of him moving inside of her making her let out a sudden cry. After just sitting inside of her, moving against her was everything he needed. “Goin’ to go slower, okay? Need to last for you.”
She nodded furiously, body tightening in his hold. Her fingers pressed into his throat more and he didn’t even think she was doing it on purpose, but he wasn’t complaining. Her thumb was on his Adam’s apple, her other fingers clasped around the back of his neck. He shifted his hand away from her clit, ignoring her whine, and adjusted her hand so that her palm was situated squarely around the front of his neck.
Her eyes widened. “Too much?” He asked, checking in with her as he returned to her clit, rubbing against her bud with his thumb.
“No,” she replied, tensing her hand experimentally. “It’s hot, actually.”
Harry smiled, pulling her clit with his thumb and forefinger in response and her hips jumped. “I like it.”
“Just...stop me if it’s too much, okay? I don’t want to hurt you.” Her voice was sweet, and Harry loved it—how she wanted to make sure she didn’t hurt him.
“I will,” he promised. She squeezed again, a bit tighter that time, and he let out a strangled moan. He’d never tried this with anyone else, but he had to admit, he liked it more than he had expected. He pulled his attention from her hand around his neck and to where his dick pushed in and out of her, trying to hold back his tempo so he could last for her. Instead of going fast, he settled for going deep, pressing every inch of her pussy, and rolling her clit fast. The combination had her squirming, hips almost pushing away from him. “Good, baby?”
“So good,” she breathed out, squeezing happily at his throat. “Might come soon. It’s so much—fuck, H—I can’t…”
The sight of her eyes fluttering and breasts bouncing as he pressed into her was tattooed into his brain. “That’s it, love. Come for me.”
Nora swiveled her hips slightly, chasing his touch, fingernails cutting into his skin at the back of his throat. “I—“ she choked on her words, head falling back as she came, it creeping up on her this time. The intensity of it, though, was unmatched, her whole body shaking so much that Harry had to pull her against him and hold her so she didn’t bang her head. He continued to push into her slowly, eyes clenched to try and hold back from coming at the feeling of her holding his dick inside of her like a vice.
When her body had calmed, Harry still hadn’t stopped, making good on his promise to fuck her through her orgasm and into the next one. “Can I bend you over for the next one?” He asked her, lips on her ear as he spoke, words low and rough.
“Y—yes,” she said, words chalky in her throat. They both needed a different position, something to change things up.
So Harry pulled out of her, both hissing from the loss of him, and he quickly carried her to the second to last countertop. She stood unsteadily on her feet, so he held her fast, not wanting her to fall. Nora bent over on her own, the cold granite on her bare breasts making her gasp. Harry ran his hands down her back, pushing her hair to the side so he could see her skin. “You okay?” He asked, kneading her sides to calm her down.
“Mhm,” she hummed, reaching her hand back to hold onto his. “Want you.”
The desire she had for him matched his, and it was in moments like these that he was thankful for it. He brushed his dick over her slit, it weepy and puffy from her multiple orgasms, their mixed come coating her skin. With his eyes on her face to make sure it was okay, he pushed in in one motion. The new angle had him hitting a different spot inside of her, one that made Nora dig her fingers into Harry’s hand and her toes curl. Harry’s head flopped back, panting heavily from the feeling. “So wet,” he rasped, “feels so good. Shit, baby, you feel so good.”
He swept his hands across her skin before he started to push in and out of her, his pace picking up as he fucked into her. She was still reeling from her last orgasm, much less the two before it. There were two more that he wanted from her, two more that she said could give. He wanted them here, like this.
All of a sudden, her hand moved his, relocating it from her side to her ass, his palm landing on one of her cheeks. “Want me to pull on you here?” He asked, kneading into the skin. He loved her ass, loved how they pressed against his hips when he pushed in and out of her. “Want me to spank you, baby?”
“Please,” she pleaded, voice raw. “Please, please, please.”
They’d done it a few times before and each time she’d loved it and he hadn’t gone too hard. So he decided he would give her a few, just to help bring her closer to her orgasm. “Okay, angel.” He had his rings on, so he decided not to go too hard, not wanting to hurt her. After rolling her skin in his hand, pulling her towards his hips as he pushed into her, he raise his hand and let it fall. The slap made her mewl, a delicious sound that had Harry bending and pressing kisses down her back. She shivered under his touch and Harry thumbed at her sides, trying to settle her. “Good?”
“Good,” she answered. She pushed her hips insistently against his and hummed.
“Sensitive?” He wanted to know where she was, how to make her come, how to give her what she needed.
“Yeah.” Her words were shaky as she tried to focus on him. “I—I don’t know if I can do two more, H.”
Harry didn’t mind, he just wanted as much as she could give him. “That’s okay, love. I’ll take as much as you can do.” With a tender kiss to her spine, he pulled her hips towards him, creating a bit of space between her thighs and the cabinets below them. Just enough to be able to sneak his hand between them and rub at her clit.
It had her shrieking, the sudden additional pressure sending her into overdrive. Harry was about there himself—he was an orgasm deep and barely fighting off a second one, trying to focus on anything other than his own pleasure to try and hold himself at bay. Instead, he watched her face contort with pleasure, her flushed cheeks rest on the counter tops, her arms unable to keep her body up anymore. She was holding onto the side of the counter for dear life as he fucked her, and he just hoped he wasn’t hurting her, pushing her too far. “Are you okay?” He asked softly, checking in with her.
She bobbed her head in a nod. “Good. Close. Can’t—can’t hold on.”
“Don’t need to, baby,” he reminded her, rubbing his fingers into her shoulder blade to release some pressure. His hips pushed into hers at a steady pace, his other hand forming circles on his clit. Another spank, he decided, would send her over the edge.
Perhaps it was the shock of it, or the intensity of the pleasure coursing through her, because she came immediately. She choked on air, knuckles holding onto the counter top that they turned white. Harry pulled his hand away and shuddered, barely containing himself as he fucked her through it. He truly didn’t know if he could last enough for her to come again. He was dribbling pre-cum into her, weeping into her, his body taught and ready to come if anyone asked him to. Could barely hold himself together, much less for long enough for her to come again.
So he bent down, pressing his chest to her back, loving kisses to her skin. “What do you want to do, baby?”
Shakily, she uttered a single word. “Another.”
He picked his head up, shocked. He thought it was too much for her. “Really?” She just nodded, and so he pulled out of her slowly, the ridges of his dick brushing against every nook and cranny of her pussy. She whimpered at the emptiness, but Harry picked her up, her pliant in his arms. “Gotcha, love. I’ve got you.” Her cheek rested on his shoulder, exhausted, fingers crawling all over him like she always did when she was fucked out. “Are you sure you want to keep going?”
“H,” she mumbled, “told you I want another. So give me another.”
He couldn’t help but chuckle at her bossiness, it never failing even when she was tired. Or perhaps it was stronger when she was like this. “Anything for you.” The last countertop was the island, and so he could lay her out flat, let her body stretch in front of him. Her hair cascaded across the granite and he didn’t know if there was a single more beautiful sight in the world. “I don’t know how much longer I can hold off,” he expressed honestly as he thumbed at her clit, the feeling making her hiss.
“Give me whatever you have left,” she said, reaching for his cheek. Softly, she brushed a thumb across it, and the tenderness of the motion grounded Harry.
“Love you so much,” he breathed out as he looked at her. “So much that I don’t even know how to express it.”
A tear leaked from the corner of her eyes and Harry brushed it away. “Love you too,” she told him. “Just as much.” Her fingers pulled at his hand that was resting on her belly and slowly she kissed each of his fingers, a smile drifting onto his face.
Outside, the sun was setting, and the orange hues dances across Nora’s skin like a painting, coating her in evening light. She was breathtaking in front of him. “Come here,” he mumbled, reaching for her, “want you close.”
Shakily, she pressed herself up towards him and Harry helped her. As much as he loved seeing her stretched out in front of him, he wanted to hold her for this last one, to have her as close as possible. He gathered her up in his arms, and then he nudged his tip, which was so sensitive that the mere touch of her slit made him growl, into her. She scratched at his shoulder blades, angry red marks that he would look at later left on his skin as he pushed in fully.
Harry bit onto his lip, it being the only thing that could anchor him. Just one more, he reminded himself, and then he could come. She needed one more.
“Not going to last long,” she mumbled, her words wet on his neck as she licked at his skin. “Too sensitive.”
He swept her hair into a ponytail so he could smooth kisses across the top of her shoulder. “Me either.”
Her knees squeezed at his hips, anchoring him against her as he pushed into her. She was wet and hot and clenching down on him so tightly that Harry was panting each of his breaths. He was going tor remember this for the rest of time, he thought to himself, this feeling of her around him. “H.” His initial was a prayer on her lips, uttered over and over again as he drove into her. His hands held her close, covering her in his touch, pressing her as close as he could get.
They were making love, sex long forgotten, focused only on how they felt for each other. Nora pulled his lips in for a kiss and they lost themselves in it, passionately nudging at one another with tongues and teeth. Harry pulled on her bottom lip and she giggled, before surging forward, kissing his hot and heavy.
It was overwhelming, the feeling of her everywhere on his skin. “Love you,” he mumbled, thoughts spiraling, “love you so much. God, love you, Nora. Love you. Fuck, I love you.” It was all he could process, the only words he could conjure up.
She didn’t care though, she just wanted him. As he rocked into her, she held his head close to hers, their foreheads resting against one another. She could feel her orgasm rising inside of her, it barely far away after how many she had experienced. Her body was exhausted, but yet she wanted one more, she constantly wanted more with him, for it to never end. This feeling of being absorbed in his body, the closeness of him to her, the way he touched her and said her name and panted in her ear as he pushed into her. “Kiss me,” she whispered. “Kiss me and I’ll come.”
Harry found her lips immediately, reconnecting them in a promise. And when he did, Nora lost it, her body shuddering and sighing in his arms, legs shaking around his waist. She was pliant, putty against him, sinking into him, and he loved every second of it.
And that’s when he let go, coming inside of her harder than he ever had before, unable to hold back for one more second. He couldn’t move against her and just held her to him as he came, painting her walls with ropes of come that left him with a growl in her ears. It overtook his entire body, the feeling of coming inside of her after waiting for so long, his bones rattling from the sensation.
When he finally stopped, they were both shaking from sensitivity and the nips of cool air that passed through the room, nighttime settling outside. “Want me to pull out?” He asked, not knowing which would hurt more—being in or out of her.
“No,” she said, shaking her head against his chest, where she rested. “Just…stay.”
So he stayed there, holding her to him, still inside of her, as they both caught their breaths and came down from their intense highs. The cicadas chirped and trees rustled, the sounds of the hills of Italy floating through the room. The air was heavy with sweat and desire, and Harry adored it because all he could smell was her—her sweat, her perfume, the shampoo they shared because he had run out. The smell of her on his skin, his favorite scent in the world.
“Okay,” she finally said, words dry on her tongue.
“Pull out?”
“Yeah.”
Slowly, he pulled his hips from hers and his dick left her. She felt empty without him there, but at the same time it felt good, her body finally calming fully. “How about a bath?” He asked her, brushing at the sweat on her forehead, pushing away her hair that fell into her face. “Soothe your muscles a bit.”
She nodded, and Harry picked her up, her body still sore and exhausted. With her attached to him, he climbed the stairs, both of them fully naked, but he didn’t have a care in the world. Just wanted to make sure she was okay. When they reached their room, he kicked open the door to the bathroom, and set her on the toilet.
“You should pee, angel.”
Nora nodded. They’d long ago gotten over the discomfort of peeing in front of someone else. He turned to the tub, messing with knobs to get the temperature just right as she peed next to him. “Want it hot,” she told him.
He looked back at her, her cheek resting on her palm as she watched him. “Like, really hot? Or kinda hot?”
“Somewhere in between?”
He didn’t know what that meant, but he’d endeavor to find out for her. The temperature was about as good as he could get it, he decided, and so he turned back to her. “Done?” She nodded, and he pulled her leg towards him. She flushed the toilet, and then let him tug her into his lap, her legs fastening around him again as he rose to full height. Gingerly, he stepped into the filling tub, and when he finally sat, the water reached midway full. “How’s that, baby?”
Her head rested on his chest, right over the swallows, and she sighed. “Perfect.”
Running his hands up and down her back to calm her, Harry thought about nothing but her. How she consumed his every thought and moment. Was that normal? Did everyone feel like this? “I’ve never felt like this about anyone else,” he mumbled, lips resting on her temple.
“Me either.”
“Is it…normal?”
Her fingers danced up his biceps, across his tattoos like she loved to do. “I don’t know. But I don’t want it to change.”
He reached forward and turned off the water, before settling back, letting her body follow his. She rested against his chest, fully flush against him. “I won’t let it.”
She kissed his swallow, a tenderness that made him almost sob. It was moments like these, the small ones of her curled up against him, their minds and bodies quiet, consumed in nothing but one another, that his love for her overwhelmed him. “Who thought I’d fall in love with a frat boy.”
Harry laughed, picking her wet hair up and massaging her neck. “Not just any frat boy,” he reminded her.
Nora shifted her chin up, so that they were looking at each other. “Harry, my frat boy.”
“Nora,” he replied, her name his favorite word, “my love.”
They sat there until the water grew cold, and then he picked her up and carried her to bed, not bothering to dress themselves in anything. And then they fell asleep, bodies intertwined in the sheets, the clear Italian night wrapping around them like a cocoon, not wanting to disturb them from their world. A world filled with nothing but one another.
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The Good Fight Reaction: 4x01
My incomplete (and slightly emotional) thoughts are under the cut. Whew. What an episode. All screenshots are mine. Happy reading.
First of all, what the hell did I just witness? And is it weird that I liked TGF’s version of The Wizard of Oz better than the original? (Not really, I love Wizard of Oz, but you get my drift)
Can I just start out by saying how proud of Diane I am? Talk about character development, and I’ll get into this as we go along, but she has come so far.
The episode overall was just thrilling. I LOVED that Diane remembered everything from Trump’s presidency. I was wondering what headspace they were going to put her in and this was perfect. She could recall certain events and important social and political issues, but she couldn’t seem to put them in order. And for the majority of the episode, I don’t think this bothered her. She was just overjoyed at the thought of Hillary being president. She was feeling her way through this dream as if she were walking through a house of mirrors. Never knowing what was coming next. I laughed out loud so many times and found myself cheering her on as if I were wondering around this new reality with Diane. Marissa accepting her craziness was also a pleasant surprise. She knew something was up with Diane but helped her out and fed her information, nonetheless. The comradery between those two was so refreshing, especially when everyone else seemed to be against Diane. The hilarity of this episode came not only from the absurdity of the circumstances but CB’s insane acting chops. This woman can play anything.
As the episode continued, Diane’s frustration with her situation was building. She’d attempted to implement her knowledge of social and political events into this new reality when she can’t even vouch for how or why she knows all this information. I just wanted to hug her and say “That’s not how this works!” The final straw seemed to come once Zoe began to reprimand her for starting a movement that would supposedly hurt Hillary’s chances for re-election. I almost wish that Lucca had said something about her experience with Weinstein during this part, but I suppose her keeping silent added to the drama.
It took me a while to pinpoint what made Diane suddenly realize she had yet to speak to Kurt since she’d “woken up.” (Thoughts on this??). My creativity has settled on the way Zoe was addressing the MeToo situation. Bare with me, this might be a stretch.
This scene felt extremely reminiscent of the Assholes to Avoid episode in season two where Diane explains “Women aren’t just one thing and you don’t get to determine what we are.” In that reality, she was in control and knew what she wanted. While in this dream, she was not giving the lecture, but was on the receiving end. Her glancing to see what Liz and Adrian were dealing with lined up with the look to the side to see what the two financial advisors were up to in season two. Although, this time, Diane felt powerless and confused, not confident and sure of herself. I adored watching her start to question how all of this got out of hand and trying to piece everything together. Running through her memories and possibly thinking about how everything was different in her dream, she remembered the most crucial part of all of it. Kurt. When the MeToo movement was in question during that episode in season two, he was about to tell her that he wanted them to always be together. He brought clarity back into her life after she had been emotionally drifting for so long. And in this first episode, she is in desperate need of clarity. (Please remember all of this is total speculation and just a little thought I had after watching these scenes for the hundredth time). Here are the scenes for reference.
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As her dream begins to unravel, it dawns in her that she doesn’t have that clear perspective. Hence her wondering what happened to Kurt. Little by little, things start adding up in her head (i.e. how did she change clothes, why had she spent the last three days at work, where the heck was Kurt). Everything else that was important 30 seconds ago dissolved into her confusion for why she hasn’t spoken to her husband.
Now this is what really got me. LOOK AT THOSE EYES.
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Up until that moment, she was just kind of going along with all the quirkinesses of the new reality, but this is the first time she starts to feel that something isn’t right.
Enter: The Wizard of Oz. Referencing “home” seemed like she was talking about more of a sensation than an actual place. Diane needs to feel understood and safe again, qualities that Kurt provided, but she had yet to feel that durning this dream. I definitely think anxious and confused Diane is my favorite because we are so used to seeing her as the rational one. Also, her anxiety only ever surfaces when she is concerned about someone she loves.
After arguing for a while, it’s sort of heartbreaking to see Diane just give in and say she’ll do whatever Zoe wants. But at the same time, it made me tear up because she was so flustered at the thought of not knowing where Kurt was. She barely even cared about losing her spot at the firm. Even though she couldn’t (or didn’t seem to, at least) remember what happened right before the inauguration, she knew that they had reconciled and that she should have heard from him. Don’t get me wrong, I adored the final McHart scenes, but this is what made me cry. The fact that NOTHING else mattered more to her at that moment than finding Kurt.
Now that is character development. She has chosen work so many times over him and this is the complete opposite of what she would’ve done just a couple seasons ago. She’s all grown up!!!!
Onto the scene in the woods. I could talk about the parallels from the argument scene for DAYS, but I’ll spare you all for now.

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I just need a second to dwell on the fact that this is such a beautiful shot...Ok, moving on. A while back I shared my feelings about Chaos in season one and I said how Diane had never looked so frightened than the moment she found Kurt in the hospital. Well, now we have this scene.
To continue with the theme of character development, I nearly screamed when she said that nothing else mattered but the two of them. The fact that she was willing to do whatever it took to keep them together was literally the sweetest thing I’ve ever heard.
Sidenote: her voice crack when she called to him in the forest and said she needed his help was pure gold. She had no doubt that he would be able to help her make sense of all of this. She had to get home and he was just the person to help.
I really liked how this whole scene you couldn’t really tell if she knew this was a dream or if she still thought it was reality. But honestly, I don’t think she cared anymore. (Here come the waterworks). I think the most touching part of this whole situation was that she could only remember what happened immediately before Hillary‘s inauguration when she held his hand.
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Another side note: her nails aren’t painted!! I just loved this shot of their hands. She has no jewelry on, her nails are bare, and she finally gets to hold his hand. All her armor has been left behind and she is so vulnerable. 
The rest of the scene is so beautiful. She doesn’t even question it when he tells her to come back. She’s known that this reality is not where she needs or wants to be and she just wants to go home, where everything made sense even if it wasn’t perfect. 
The fact that Kurt is the one that helps her recall what happened before the dream makes her fear of losing him that much more powerful. Yep, this is by far the most terrified we’ve seen Diane. As the memory comes back piece by piece, she tries to pull away from him because she knows where it ends: with him lying on the floor next to her, presumably dead. He wants her back so terribly that he won’t let her go, but she can’t fathom living in a world where he isn’t alive. Everything hits her all at once. The fear, the grief, the regret, and the remorse for putting him in danger in the first place.
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You bet I was crying right along with her. And her little “oh my God” broke my heart in half. She knew what was coming next. I mean, what else would you expect to happen if you pulled a gun on a swat team.
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And then he is the one that lets go. While she thinks he’s dead, I think it is symbolic of him letting her drift back into reality. He has to release her from this dream and she has to release herself, as well. I know that there are not often clear morals in the episodes because the morals are always in question, but this idea of needing to be home is a continuation from the last episode in season three were Diane tells Adrian that love is the only thing they can hold onto. It will always be there, like it or not, ready to help in anyway it can. Even when times are rough, Diane can always look to her husband for grounding. She can always go home.
Well, for those of you still reading, that was a lot longer than I intended it to be. Let me know what you think and if you have any other ideas on any of this. And I can’t be the only one that thinks Kurt was holding her hand in the final shot...
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venxmedina · 4 years
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hellllo family :~) guess who’s baaaack !! it’s chelly, with my sassy little babie venice, whom i love very much and hopefully you do, too !! she’s a fun one to go out with, will flirt with you, takes up dance studio time whenever she can, and isn’t afraid to voice her opinions. i’m so excited to get her back into the swing of things, since i am bringing her back from a smol hiatus !! like this or shoot me a message if you’d like to plot :pleading fc: :~)
— && guests may mistake me as ( camila mendes ), but really i am ( venice medina + cis female + she/her ) and my DOB is ( 3/31/1995 ). i am applying for the ( housekeeper ) position as part of the EHP and would like to live in suite ( 213 ). i should be hired because i am ( charming & witty ), but i can also be ( cunning & dramatic ) at times. personally, i like to ( go shopping, attend dance classes & practice self care ) when off the clock, but that won’t interfere with work.
okay before this gets waaaay too long lmfao here’s a TL:DR of venice, her pinterest board, and her connection page 
venice is a spoiled rich girl who mommy & daddy never really paid much attention to except when it came to succeeding in life and she responded to that by partying and being a wild child tbqh, resulting in her parents cutting her off and forcing her to take on a real job at the malnati. she’s returning after her grandfather passed, which essentially turned into just another instance of her parents controlling her life and not trusting her to take care of herself or the medina family name. she’s resentful of them bc they never rlly believed in her and instead treated her more-so as a pawn to advance their family's position which is a lil dehumanizing as a daughter and she's now determined to prove them wrong and actually make something of herself. her parents put her into ballet classes from such a young age and although most of anything they made her do has mostly been tainted now, dance is the one thing that's stuck and brings her so much joy and purpose so she still takes classes & is in search of a permanent partner to compete with.  she’s more than just a pretty lil rich girl, like she does have a heart ( kind of a big one but lowkey tho asdlfj ), but she's also got a bit of an identity crisis now that she's fully on her own and not under the influence of her parents or with the comfort of her brother, and that's ... different. kind of a cold bitch, but she’s charming and sociable and has a good heart but she’s guarded and afraid of getting hurt.
here is her pinterest board & her connection page <3 i’d especially love some hookup buds, a dance partner, childhood enemy, one night stands, fake relationships, fiesty friends, frenemies, and just about anything tbh :~)
tw: drugs & alcohol mention, neglect, death
*:・゚・✧・ who am i?: the medina family fortune was founded during the gold rush era in which the family immigrated from brazil and were talented metal-workers who could turn such raw materials into works of sheer beauty. jewelry, picture frames, gold plated toilet seats and architectural elements alike - everyone in hollywood wanted something made by the medinas. their prominence never weaned, either. throughout the decades, the family fortune has amassed well beyond anyone’s wildest dreams and therefore money is barely to be considered to the medinas despite them still understanding the value of a dollar earned. given the diversity in which the wealth is spread, and the investments that it has been used to make, it is obvious that they are a family of considerable wealth making up the upper class. their high-rise in the upper east side really says it all. this was the world that venice was introduced to, and quite frankly, it was all she had ever known. her guarded building was as much as she was allowed to venture out into for many a year, where the doorman was a babysitter and mrs. winters’ dog a few floors down was a friend. of course, there were a few other kids in her building whose parents were either fond or jealous of the medinas, so until she went to school venice did get to socialize with kids her own age too. her older brother, lucca, was one of her biggest saving graces. he was one of the only people in her life that truly gave her the time of day, and as much as it pained venice to be constantly overlooked by her parents in favor of lucca, he was her best friend. for all intents and purposes, he was the only medina who made her feel like she even had a family, and if there's anyone she's more loyal to than anyone else, it'd him. but per her education, venice attended private schools in the city throughout her life, even being tutored by some of the most highly reputable and paid retired teachers in the entire state for extra attention. getting a proper education was more important to her parents than it was to venice, so she put in the minimal effort needed. it wasn’t as if she was ever going to be given a failing grade, and it wasn't as though an A on a paper was going to garner her parents' attention for long ( if at all - it was what was expected of her ). the girl knew of her influence and the power her family held from an early age. whatever she wanted, she got, and that was the precedent that had been set from infancy. whatever would get her to stop whining, that’s what she got.
*:・゚・✧・ attention to detail: half of the battle for venice, though, throughout her life, was garnering her parent’s attention. her father was a proven, accomplished businessman who was often out of the state or city to tend to whatever firm needed his attention. her mother was a socialite who was more concerned with keeping up the image of a perfect household than actually tending to one. it wasn’t that there was a lack of love for her, from her parents, it was just rather that care was seldom expressed when venice so desperately needed it. she had spent more time with nannies and tutors and tennis instructors than she did her own parents, and that left a vacancy in her heart. naturally, her relationship with her brother was one that she worked on every day; they were thick as thieves and everyone knew the medina siblings. but, she couldn't follow her brother all day for the rest of her life, and as much as his love helped fill some of those voids in her heart, it wasn't always enough, either. she sought out their attention in so many different avenues. whether that be through ballet dance recitals, throwing temper tantrums if she wasn’t getting her way, leaving notes on her mother and father’s pillows … venice really tried all of it. and sure, she would occasionally get some kind of attention in return, but it was usually fleeting and uninspiring. they favored lucca in just about every aspect, and expected him to carry on the family name, line, and company so in a lot of ways - he took precedence. and this wasn’t dissimilar to the experiences of some of the people she called her friends at the time. her parents were busy people who didn’t have much time to deal with the handful of a daughter that they had.
*:・゚・✧・ to be needed: this is where much of venice’s neediness has stemmed from. she truly does seek out those who are more likely to give her attention, to feed into her, even though she has been taken advantage of time and time again over the years. it’s not something she is even consciously aware of, it’s mostly just something that happens. or at least that’s how it started out. even to this day it can be difficult for venice to understand what a mutually beneficial relationship looks like, but that doesn’t mean she’s incapable of learning. for a long time, the people who wanted to be in her life also wanted access to the lavish lifestyle that follows her. this often meant that so many of venice’s ‘friendships’ were hollow, and merely existed to the benefit of the other person. it took awhile before venice started to realize that all of the trips she took people on, the random shopping sprees, the VIP bottle service, the ‘borrowed’ gucci and hermes - it was all for nothing. it wasn’t until she graduated that all of this dawned on the girl, but it did. and while she still feels that aching need to be surrounded by others, to be validated in some way, she is far more guarded now and protective of herself; she isn’t just going to be used by anyone ever again, and that lesson is one she holds very close to her heart. which she’d personally describe as a cold one if only to protect it.
*:・゚・✧・ reckless abandon: but … speaking of, like so many of our favorite little rich girls, venice has always been a rebellious one. it started when she was a sixteen year old who had access to her own limo and could go wherever the hell she wanted. she had met plenty of other affluent sons and daughters of her parent’s pals by that point, and they had their own sort of ‘code’ amongst them. she started experimenting with drugs and alcohol at an early age and since it was what everyone else was doing, it allowed her to be a part of the club, and that’s what she was searching for. it warranted attention from the paparazzi, from these other so-called ‘friends’ of hers. her beach house in the hamptons was her playground every weekend during the summer and it was good she had a maid service on speed dial because after her friends were through on a sunday night, it was necessary. she'd grown to essentially need a bottle of titos if she were going out or a few bumps to get her through a night, and it was incredibly unhealthy, but it was one of those staples that made her feel better. even for a little. even in fleeting moments.
when she was graduating from her private academy and just turning 18, the need and desire to escape her family's imposing pressures and lack of care grew deeply. she knew that she wanted to escape to the west coast, and after spending far too many weekends jet-setting all over the country, the dry heat that filed the arizona air was appealing to her. she was miles away from her parent's, but still close enough to the beach and access to all the funds she could ever ask for. she was a party girl who barely attended classes and it was her family name that mostly got her through the couple of years that she even attended. she spent most of her time shopping, getting high, and drinking all night long. perhaps what was the most shocking was the relationship venice found herself in. he was a football player, older, undoubtedly gorgeous, and one of the kindness people venice had ever met ... up until meeting mason, she had basically only been surrounded by people who wanted to use her and didn't genuinely give a shit about her at the end of the day; they were in it for themselves, and mason was the exact opposite. he considered her, was far more mature than most of the people she'd ever spent time with, and she latched onto that breath of positivity and openness that was mason davis. even till this day, her relationship with mason was the longest one she'd ever found herself in, and to put it simply: she fell in love and she fell hard. some of her fondest memories were cheering him on at every game, celebrating the wins, and introducing him to anyone she could who was in the professional scene because she believed in him more than anyone else. he was unlike anyone she'd ever met before and cared for him more than she could understand; he was her first true relationship, someone who deserved to be her one and only, and while it terrified her how much she felt for him, she thought it was all reciprocal - so what was there to worry about? well, the night to worry came. and it was when mason broke up with her - supposedly, with his graduation date coming, he wanted to spare her the hurt ... but, in reality, all it did was shatter the girl's heart at twenty years old and it's never fully recovered since.
it didn't take long for venice to go off the deep end after the breakup ... being at the university of arizona was way too much, and every memory that used to bring her nothing but happiness was tainted. every ounce of personal growth that she had worked on seem to vanish overnight, and she was just angry, and hurt, and it was like all of those moments her parents made her feel like she wasn't enough - they were right. and still ... she needed home, to go home, to be surrounded by people who she was familiar with and who she knew would let her lean on them ... even if there were only a couple of people back home who'd comfort her, even if it was just lucca, she needed to go back to the city she knew like the back of her hand. even to be surrounded by people who'd pretend to care about her just for a night in her lifestyle. so she put in a transfer application to NYU, and yet again, it was her family name and pedigree that got her into the school. and attending NYU ... well it wasn't much better and when she first started at UoA. she’d hook up with anyone who she deemed interesting and the next night she was onto someone new. she was almost desperate in getting over mason in the only way she knew how ... getting under someone else. and she did a whole lot of that. everyone knew who she was on the party scene and you either hated venice or loved venice - but no matter what, you knew who she was. and that's how she survived her last two years ... making the rounds, living it up, partying and relying on her favorite substances .. it wasn't good, and it wasn't pretty, but it was what she knew best and that's what she reverted to at the time.
*:・゚・✧・ riptide: anytime she could garner his parent’s attention with her reckless escapades, it was a win. that’s what she wanted. she wanted their attention, no matter what way she could get it, and there was something extremely fun in the process of getting it. but as she got older, her parents stopped caring as much. they knew venice wasn’t making healthy choices, spent too much time partying and out all night rather than studying, that she probably was crying over for something or someone, but that wasn’t what they were most concerned with. no, they were more concerned with the tabloids and the family’s reputation - that’s why they weren't paying venice any attention while she was away at NYU. they’d threaten to cut her off and that she would no longer be apart of their family if she continued to act this way in public. whether it was in a headline or on social media, she was being filmed and photographed acting out and being a truly spoiled brat which wasn’t the image that her family so desperately sought to protect.
*:・゚・✧・this is growing up: it has been a true emotional rollercoaster between venice and her parents - constantly struggling to support their daughter and ‘set her on the right path’ versus venice’s ‘devil may care’ attitude. so many of her parents threats have been empty, and she had never truly thought that in all of their attempts to get her to be the picture perfect daughter that they wanted that they’d cut her off and force her to fend for herself. but, that’s exactly what happened. after graduating NYU with a degree in marketing, venice figured that her parents were get her in to one of the top agencies in the city and she would be able to live out her life with the top dogs like her father had. and for a long time, that is exactly what her parents had promised her. but then her graduation came and it was just after that she had pulled her biggest stunt and had stripped down on top of the bar at one of her parent’s fundraising events during a drunken stupor. that was truly a turning point in her relationship with her parents, considering just how badly she embarrassed them at their own fundraising event. and truly it all stemmed from that desire to be seen by them, by anyone, to be considered at all. the most they were concerned with when it came to venice was where she was going to be working and later living. they didn’t care that she was depressed, covering it up with partying and alcohol, that she wanted their love to be expressed and to feel as though she belonged to a real family. and she’s always known her life is wonderful compared to so many others, and there is guilt that comes from that, too, but still she couldn’t stop herself from acting out when she needed attention the most. and that is when her parents ultimately decided to cut her off - freeze her accounts, reposses her car, and force her to get a job that would actually put her back into the real world.
*:・゚・✧・out here on my own: and really, that is how venice has ended up in chicago in the first place. the medinas are friends with the malnatis, and they agreed to take her on as an employee through the employee housing program and to ( most importantly ) get her away from mommy & daddy and out of The City. it’s the first time in her life where she’s without friends, money, or any sort of support. honestly, she feels quite abandoned by her family, as she looks at it like they got sick of dealing with her so they shipped her off elsewhere to be someone else’s problem. the resentment is there, and now more than ever venice is determined to show her parents that she doesn’t need them or their money, that she’s going to be capable of being on her own and working a medial job like being a maid without crawling back to them. sure, she’s going to hate cleaning up after people when she used to have a nanny who would tidy up her own place, as she truly has been spoiled, but she’s determined to grin and bare it before going back home. besides, so much of her life has been focused on gaining their attention, approval, to be validated by anyone, to be seen as something more than just a pretty face with a fat bank account … and while she hasn’t always helped herself to be seen in any other light, she’s consumed by the idea of doing so now. this is the first time in venice’s life where she isn’t under her parent’s thumb. where she isn’t constantly under the influence of some substance. where she isn’t doing something insanely foolish or unhealthy to try and gain the favor of someone whos approval requires chasing. she’s really just getting to live within her own skin, be herself and figure out what that looks like.
after working at the malnati for a handful of months, it was a family emergency that landed her back in new york ... her grandfather had passed, the true patriarch of the family, and that came with a lot of 'passing of the guard' within the medina family enterprise. it meant funerals, and meetings with lawyers, and memorial services, and rekindlings with her brother, and public appearances, and making statements and being interviewed for magazines, and it was then that venice had truly learned of her position in her family. while her grandfather had left her stock options in her name when he passed, and plenty for her to be able to live comfortably off of for the rest of her life, it was so written that it was contingent upon her father's disbursement of the stocks when he deemed she was so fit to handle them. so it was even in death, her family did not trust her enough to be able to handle herself. she was still considered reckless, unreliable, and unworthy of holding a stake in medina international ... while it wasn't anything new or surprising to venice, it still hurt just the same. because she'd spent the past year working on herself, away from the pressures of being a medina, separated from her family and essentially disowned by her own parents and even still, she found herself at their mercy once more. it would come at no surprise that she decided to leave it all behind her once more ... which is why she's returned to chicago, not as a guest at the malnati, but as an employee. as someone with aspirations and desires to move up in the world, once more on her own, once more with a heart she's nursing from lovers she's had to say goodbye to, once again without the support of her family, and furthermore with the wrath and persistence only a medina can procure.
*:・゚・✧・it’s a new dawn: she still gives into her pleasures, whether that be sex or art or dancing, all of which she’s never been able to kick but she manages them well and enjoys them all the same. she is still a good time, someone fun to be around, and is always willing to get the party started no matter where she is. she’s kind of done it all, and while some of that has been left behind now that she’s got some different focuses in life, venice knows what makes her feel best and doesn’t want to deprive herself of that, either. she’s currently obsessed with her taking dance classes and is constantly updating her instagram followers on all that she can show them when she’s in the studio. after taking ballet classes for most of her life, she is quite good and likes to indulge in those, but her latest passion has been in salsa and hip hop. it’s not only a great workout to keep herself in shape but she likes the way she feels when she’s doing it, too. and piano lessons were big in her household, as her parents wanted her to be educated in the arts too, so she’s kept a keyboard lying around her things in case she ever feels a spark of desire to mess around on the keys.
*:・゚・✧・it’s a new day: mostly, venice is a guarded gal who loves to have a good time and will absolutely give anyone a hard time when they deserve it. she’s dramatic, to a fault, and she knows it and could not care less. to quote, “i am who i am, and if you don’t like it then there’s the door.”. she’s loyal to the people that she decides she wants to have in her life, but will be very cautious about those she doesn’t trust right away, which can stem from some kind of experience of her own judgement since she does tend to operate off of preconceived notions of people until proven otherwise. and despite being crass, she can also be rather charming, and is a sociable person at her core so she will be willing to strike up conversations with whoever - but whether the conversation goes well or not is another thing. her ultimate weakness though is pretty people, as she is attracted to both men and women, and likes to engage in all kinds of relationships with anyone she thinks is attractive and interesting. so if she starts flirting with you, she has every intention on getting to know you one way or another. in truth, venice has a good heart, and it’s simply masked by a lot of vibrato and insecurity. her biggest fear is not being enough, and that’s so much of the reason why she’s never really tried to be anything. but since being cut off, and repeatedly cast aside by her family, she’s found this rejuvenated sense of desire to prove everyone wrong - that she is worth a damn, that she can work her way up the ladder and break out into the ‘real world’ on her own, that she’s enough.
also if you got this far honestly thank you asdkfalf i do not deserve you lmfao this has been a journey and if you had to suffer through all the typos i’ve likely made, i owe you <3
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pluckyredhead · 4 years
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Daredevil 101: Eurotrip!
This is going to be a long one, folks. I tried to trim it down as much as I could, since I don’t want these sort of intermediary stories to be taking as long to cover as they have, but I was left with cutting it up into two short chunks or giving you one hefty meal. I chose hefty meal, so loosen your belts and tuck that napkin into your collars, kids!
...This metaphor may have gotten away from me.
Last time, Matt escaped from jail and headed to Monaco to track down Alton Lennox, the elusive lawyer who, for some mysterious reason, hired the convict who killed Foggy - who the reader (but not Matt) has just found out is actually alive! We’re picking up with more of the Brubaker/Lark run, DD v2 88-93. The official storyline name is “The Devil Takes a Ride.”
Content Warning: Image of a dead body, mention of murder made to look like suicide.
We start with Foggy, who is trapped in Witness Protection, unable to contact Ben or Dakota or anyone else who might be able to get through to Matt:
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It’s not actually clear who the FBI is claiming to be Witness Protecting Foggy from, at this point? All they know is that he was stabbed by a guy at Riker’s, who is now dead, and also Foggy isn’t in Riker’s anymore. Matt’s enemies in general, maybe?
Anyway, this issue is called “The Secret Life of Foggy Nelson” and it’s basically a love letter to Matt. Foggy's narration boxes are all directed at Matt (who can’t hear him, of course), as he explains that he’s always wanted to do the right thing, but he’s been so afraid, especially with the dangerous life they lead:
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I’M CRYING. Also, I’ve always loved that Foggy envisions Matt saving him, not Daredevil. Even after he learns that the two are one and the same, Matt is always the part he loves.
Foggy eventually gets so desperate to escape Witness Protection and talk to Matt that he sneaks out of the house he’s being held in and hails a cab that is...idling around this remote suburban neighborhood...suspiciously...
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Hmm, yeah, that’s not good.
Luckily, Foggy is rescued! By ninjas!
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Foggy’s face in that first panel is amazing.
Anyway, I LOVE THIS SO MUCH. Elektra is leading the Hand at this particular point in time, and she has ordered them to keep Foggy safe. Matt has no idea she’s doing this, of course - he doesn’t even know Foggy’s alive - but she knows what Foggy means to him. Also, she has a demonstrated soft spot for Foggy. I just love everything this says about all of them so much, even if I don’t know why the mafia wanted to kill Foggy. I guess they just be like that.
Thwarted in his escape, Foggy settles in to essentially wait for Matt to settle things in Europe and come rescue him. Meanwhile, Matt is being tormented by dreams of a bucolic Silver Age life with a living Foggy (and Karen!):
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Aw, baby.
You can see that as is traditional for when Matt goes to Europe (or imagines going to Europe), he has dyed his hair black.
Matt is in Monte Carlo, because the only client he can find for Alton Lennox in Monaco, a mob boss named Tybold Lucca, runs a casino there:
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Matt and his ill-fitting suit - I’m sorry, “Ray Mallory” and his ill-fitting suit - have been using his powers to win like crazy and thus draw Lucca’s attention. It works, as Lucca’s daughter Lily herself shows up to invite him to an exclusive party at the Lucca estate:
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When Matt gets to the party, Lily doesn’t seem to be having a great time:
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The scent thing is important. Lily reminds Matt of something, and he’s conscious of it enough to realize it’s making him want to bend over backwards to help her, without realizing exactly what - or who - she reminds him of.
The centerpiece of the event is a bullfight. After the bull is killed (Matt doesn’t enjoy that), Lucca announces the aforementioned deal with his “Spanish associate,” i.e. the bullfighter, Juan: Lily’s hand in marriage!
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Matt’s moralizing over these strange cultures in the first panel makes me laugh. I know it’s another continent, Matthew, but it’s the same century.
Anyway, yikes! Juan has just killed Tybold Lucca! Also I don’t know how Matt knows the guy with the gray temples is Alton Lennox but whatever!
Matt Daredevils up, but Juan kidnaps Lily and Lennox and escapes in a helicopter. And that’s when something clicks into place, nose-wise:
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I love this page. Why does Lily smell like Karen? Who is the mysterious mastermind behind, uh...a matador stabbing a gangster and said gangster’s daughter being kidnapped? What does this have to do with Foggy’s death? It’s a bonkers and extremely extra way of "explaining” this plotline, Brubaker, and I salute you.
Matt pursues Lily and Lennox, because they’re his only lead and because, well, it would be shitty not to. Lily’s scent haunts his dreams:
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I love that all of Matt’s sweaty shirtless dreams about his conflicted feelings towards his love interests have Foggy in them, too. Just bro stuff!
Matt tracks the kidnapping victims to another opulent European mansion and finally catches up with Alton Lennox...but too late:
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The man who hired Foggy’s killer has taken his secrets to the grave. But Lily is still out there. In fact, not only is her scent all over Lennox’s room, she’s actively being re-kidnapped:
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This is Tombstone, who I don’t think has shown up in these recaps before? He’s a mob guy, gray skin, very strong, basically made of stone. A better sparring partner for Luke Cage than Matt “The World’s Most Breakable Bones” Murdock.
Tombstone gets away with Lily. Matt goes on the hunt:
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This just makes me laugh. (In the first panel, I believe he’s saying “I can’t promise that you will land in the river.”)
Finally, one of the people Matt beats up mentions seeing Tombstone - and the woman he’s working for. And the whole plot flips over in Matt’s mind:
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Yeah, Lily’s not the victim here - she’s the mastermind, or at least she thinks she is. Tombstone is working for her. She killed Lennox, or at least was there when he was killed. And that dude is Juan, the bullfighter, who killed her father so that they could be together and have all her father’s ill-gotten gangster money.
But how can she smell like both Juan’s mother and Karen? IS KAREN JUAN’S MOTHER??? (No.)
Matt finally catches up with Lily and her “kidnappers”:
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Matt, you absolute tart.
Matt manages, rather ingeniously, to take down Tombstone, and the powerless Juan absolutely panics - like, to the point of something chemical going weird on him:
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Juan kind of collapses after slicing Lily with the sword (not too badly; also wasn’t it a rapier before?) and Matt knocks him out. Matt then tells Lily he knows she’s been playing him, and demands that she come clean:
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And so Matt finally confronts the mastermind behind all of this, the person who had Foggy Nelson killed, who hired Danny Rand to pretend to be Daredevil, who hired Lily and Juan and Tombstone, and who has had at least four loose ends murdered by now:
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VANESSA FISK???
But why? Well, as far as she sees it, her life was destroyed by Fisk and Matt’s endless battle, in which she was essentially a pawn. (They don’t mention it directly, but it’s very worth noting that Matt once essentially held her hostage, after she had spent god knows how long as a presumably sexually abused prisoner, in order to manipulate Fisk. Matt didn’t, like, promise not to be a gangster and then marry her and then go back to being a gangster, but he’s not exactly innocent here either.) She is now dying of Killedherownsonitis - seriously, she’s like “the doctors don’t know why all my organs are failing, but it’s because I killed Richard” - and before she goes, she has a deal to offer Matt:
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She has enough pull to get the charges against Matt dropped, meaning he can resume his normal life. In exchange, he will get Fisk out of jail. And from then, he’ll know that every time Fisk kills, it will be on his conscience. This is the kind of tortured logic superhero comics end up with, in a world where no one except civilians stays dead and jails have revolving doors, but trust me when I say that this reveal and all of Vanessa’s supervillain explanations absolutely work in context.
Matt’s like “YOU USED TO BE COOL, MAN”:
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He refuses to take the deal and storms out. Vanessa tells her minions to put everything into motion anyway, because as she sees it, Matt is essentially selfish, and will ultimately act in his own self-interest.
And so, the FBI Guy who has been trying to bring Matt down for issues and issues and issues is found dead in his apparent from apparent suicide (killing people and making it look like suicide is Vanessa’s signature move, it’s the third one in the Brubaker run so far), along with a note saying he framed Matt who is totally super duper not Daredevil. And Really Incredibly Blind Matt Murdock is found wandering a road back in the States, having “escaped” from being “held captive.”
Matt being Matt, he decides to hold a press conference to explain his kidnapping/disappearance/reappearance, because Matt fucking loves holding press conferences:
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Fratt shippers, please take Ben’s line as the gift it is.
Rather than spin the erotic tale Ben is clearly angling for (and that Frank, watching his on his Murder Van TV, is dreaming of), Matt spins some bullshit about Frank hating defense attorneys for putting criminals back on the streets and wanting information on Matt’s clients and yadda yadda. Basically no one actually believes him but everyone likes Daredevil so they’re all like “Welcome home, Regular Matt Murdock Who Isn’t Daredevil!” and then they wink a lot.
Matt is back home, reunited with Milla and Becky and Dakota, when he senses something impossible in the hall:
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I will never be over this hug, or those tears, or Foggy’s joyous face in the fourth panel.
Anyway yeah, now that Matt’s officially Not Daredevil, Foggy I guess no longer needs to be protected from Daredevil’s enemies? Or more accurately, the only reason the FBI was really holding him was because of Vanessa’s machinations, and she’s now released him.
What I find really interesting is that she basically justifies it to her minion by saying she’s showing Matt how sweet life can be so that it will hurt more when he inevitably ends up bleeding out in the trash again, but Matt sees it as proof that the Vanessa he knew, the good person she once was, wasn’t totally gone. I think he’s closer to correct.
In return, even though he got what he wanted from her and never promised her anything, Matt gets Fisk out of jail. (Which is, again, the tortured bullshit morality of comics, where you have to get the villain out of jail to do more villain stuff.) The FBI case is so hopelessly compromised that it’s not even hard. But he makes Fisk promise to renounce his American citizenship and leave the country forever, AND he waits until after Vanessa has died so that Fisk can’t bury her, which is pretty vicious. (Matt’s, like...not a nice person, guys.)
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And thus this storyline’s all over but the rooftop heart to heart with Foggy!
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They are textually talking about Fisk here. They are also textually talking about Karen, who Matt admits that he’s still not over.
But Karen’s death didn’t change Matt so much that the freaking Punisher had to get himself arrested to remind him who he was. Matt has acted erratically since Karen’s death, but Matt has always acted erratically. Foggy’s “death” made him go feral.
So yeah, I think Foggy is talking about two people here (and I think Brubaker wrote the conversation to be about two people). But Matt is talking about three.
Next Up: Lily Lucca comes to New York! It doesn’t end well for anyone!
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atopearth · 4 years
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Chrono Cross Part 2 - The Prevalence of Death
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To save or not to save Kid is always the hardest decision for me. Like, can’t we spend a few days trying to find a way at least? I always feel so slack ditching her since I like her, but honestly, I really want Glenn in my party so I can’t choose her, I’m sorry, Kid. Like, who wants Korcha?! I always love it when Harle appears, she’s so fun lol. Anyway, I always found it saddening yet sweet that Doc got to talk to Orlha about his inability to save patients, but really, it’s difficult for him to save Kid when she needs Hydra Humour and there’s no more Hydra in this world. I’m glad she motivated him to try his best instead of running away though, everyone relies on him in Guldove, so if he gives up, everyone else will too. Btw, gliding on that wire (from the top of Korcha’s house) back to the entrance of Guldove is my favourite thing ever here, so worth the 10G haha. I love how helpful of a person Macha is, it’s true though, Serge didn’t exactly say he wouldn’t save Kid, he just didn’t know what to do hearing that she was going to die. HAHAHA, I love how the laundry lady in Termina is obsessed with her laundry, she literally wonders whether the Radical Dreamers (thieves) steal laundry, so she’s staying there until they dry hahahaha. I really like how the sick kid in Termina who likes listening to Korcha’s stories actually really enjoys Korcha’s company and admires him for being so strong even without a father. She knows that her father most likely isn’t coming back, and understands how hard her mother is working for her, so she listens to her mum, but she also makes her own judgement about people rather than just blindly listening to her mum and that’s really cool. I wonder if it’s Korcha or her dad or something that’s been giving her Drakehorn grass to soothe her cough? LMAO Greco was the real exorcist the dragoons called to the valley that we impersonated?! Hahahaha, so sorry for wasting your time, Greco lol! It’s pretty nice but random that he wants to help Serge find his “way” kinda thing because he’s alive but not alive, but I guess it kinda aligns with his work… Not that I’ll be using him though lol, 2 agility is so slow!
Radius, Zappa and Garai were dragoons! Dang, Zappa the blacksmith must have been really strong back in the day! Lmao at the guy in Marbule who stares at you as you run around because he wants you to get out since you’re not a demi-human haha! Lol at the guy sleeping in Viper Manor, he’s been sleeping since the beginning of the game! It’s kinda funny though, when you talk to him, he’s like where’s everyone (since most of the dragoons and Viper etc went to Fort Dragonia), but then he’s like whatever and just goes back to sleep LOL. Aww I kinda regret getting iron weapons for everyone now, it makes Polly, Fargo and that black goo monster on the S.S. Invincible so much easier to beat! Kinda wanted more of a challenge aiyaa, I remember I used to think they were kinda hard back then. I love seeing Pip on the ship though, he’s really sailing the seas like he wanted! It’s so cute how we run after him because he’s running away from ghosts lol! It’s quite convenient how Serge is one of the keys to cross worlds as the guy that’s kinda like half dead half alive considering his contradicting existence, but also the Astral Amulet being the other half of the key to cross worlds is nice lol! I never realised until I googled that Norris was the one who saved Kid (with Hydra Humour) and that he’s the spy (who’s acting as a dishwasher in the manor) infiltrating Viper Manor! He’s a cool guy. As for the poem girl, I really enjoy the Home World one, she obviously thinks the idea of there being another her is crazy, but she goes along with it anyway, because who knows, there really might be another her that’s given up on writing poems! So, she gives her collection of poems signed in her name for Serge to give to the other her, and honestly, I really love how she wrote that one can’t appreciate joy without experiencing sorrow, it was cool that her existence and words motivated the Another World poem girl to dream again instead of wallowing that there’s no point. Taking life slowly but surely is also another way to live, it doesn’t matter if her poems amount to nothing in other people’s eyes for now, because this is what motivates her to dream and I think having that in itself is very important.
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It’s pretty interesting yet saddening how in Another World, there’s no more hydra and water in the Water Dragon Isle, yet it’s so plentiful and beautiful in Home World. It really shows how different the possibilities can be. I always found it so saddening how the dwarves felt like they were forced to kill the fairies for a home. Like, I’m not justifying their actions because really, they killed so many fairies, I always feel so sad having to play this part because the fairies are such small and peaceful creatures that even the fisherman loves coming here every now and then to fish and watch them dance around. But, I think the last words of the dwarf bosses we killed was really daunting. The fact that humans have trampled upon the ecosystem so much to keep themselves alive, whilst neglecting the lives of all the other species such as them who are forced to move from home to home trying to find a place that they can actually live in felt...uncomfortable. Just hearing their lament and sadness towards it all made me feel like such a bad guy… I guess it’s normal for the fairies to hate Serge and them though. If the humans didn’t chase the dwarves out of the forest, the dwarves wouldn’t have needed to come here, everyone would have still had their friends and family, I’m sure the dwarves also lost a lot of their friends to the humans, and that’s why they felt so frustrated that even in death, humans were always the ones killing them, it honestly felt really terrible. I guess in the sense, a lot of the parts in Another World such as the dried up Water Dragon Isle is probably the result of human actions destroying the nature they should be in harmony with too… Before playing Chrono Trigger, I never really realised who Lucca was so it never really affected me as much when it came to Kid’s past. But, now, when I think about Lucca opening this orphanage taking care of kids like Kid, whilst making her fun and weird contraptions, and then having that all destroyed by Lynx, it really makes me so sad. I can see why Kid is so adamant on finding him and getting revenge. In that sense, I’m surprised the Water Dragon gave her ice breath to Serge and them so easily (to get past the lava in Mount Pyre).
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Lmao, I love the demonstration Solt and Peppor give to teach us about trap elements with their stupidity haha. The Fire Dragon is as cute as always~ He would be cuter if he didn’t kill Leena though haha! Anyway, I always used to bring Kid to Fort Dragonia with me because I liked her and it was cool for plot purposes I guess, but I decided to bring Glenn and Leena with me this time, because I want to see how the Dragoons etc react to him going against orders to discover what’s happening, and I kinda want to see how Glenn reacts to it all too. For now, I’m quite loving it, Karsh is shocked, and Marcy just says she doesn’t care about Glenn hahaha. Lmao when Marcy said she hates Serge so much, she practically hates everyone related to him lol. She’s such a cute kid lol. I always thought of Fort Dragonia as a tedious place as a kid, but now that I’m playing it again, it’s not too bad, much shorter than I thought haha. The best thing is being able to trap Iceberg, Freefall, Inferno, Volcano and Holy Light! It’s so cool being able to trap them and then run away from battle and do it again hahaha. The Bunyip had so less health in the first phase though! I wasted a few of my traps lol, but otherwise, I’m really stacked for now hahaha. It’s always pretty disheartening to see Serge swap bodies with Lynx and seeing everyone beat him up. But I think now that I’ve played Chrono Trigger, the most saddening thing is hearing Kid wanting to avenge Lucca. Like, you can’t kill Lucca!!😭 I’m just not gonna think of Chrono Cross as a sequel to make myself feel better lol. The power of the Frozen Flame to swap their bodies etc because they both lost a part of themselves back then (I assume) is pretty crazy. Otherwise, I’m excited to play as Lynx! I used to always hate this part since you kinda lose the characters you’ve built up, but when I think about it, a lot of the characters that join up with you as Lynx are pretty fun too!
I always find it hilarious that you shake a berry off the tree to lure Sprigg out of her home so you can go invade it hahahha. I always found the Temporal Vortex a very interesting place, because it looks so much like a sketch of a world, as if it’s in between the real and the fake, it looks so fake but it’s supposed to be real, and I guess that was amusing. Ooh I wondered why Radius became chief for Arni in this world, but it seems that it might be related to the fact that Viper has disappeared in this world? It’s nice of him to want to travel to Another World and save the Viper and Riddel there before it’s too late though. But I really love the different reactions to Lynx throughout the village (since he’s Demi-human and saying he’s actually Serge). Most of them are pretty friendly though! Although there are some that are hostile or scared haha. I always hate the Home World Termina because it’s literally just filled with the Porre military and has none of the vibrancy it had in Another World. But, I do like getting Norris in my team! Kinda crazy how the Viper Manor is destroyed and literally in ruins though..and Karsh and everyone disappeared along with Viper after they went to the Dead Sea, which is also the place where Wazuki (Serge’s father) and Miguel (Leena’s father) went 14 years ago, but Miguel never came back, whereas Wazuki changed after that. I can’t really remember what the whole thing about the Dead Sea was about… 
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Btw I feel sorry for Zappa and Zippa (these names lmaoo) since Karsh (their son!) has already disappeared for 3 years and they’ve been waiting for him all this time… Cool that Zappa is kinda continuing the dream of finding rainbow shell, it’s just that compared to Chrono Trigger, rainbow shell isn’t really the legendary thing it once was, because now it’s kinda scattered everywhere in random places haha. It’s kinda interesting to see Van the poor version though. In Home World, Van’s father (called Gogh LOL, is it supposed to be funny or morbid?!) decided to continue pursuing his art dream, but doesn’t want to sell his works unless he’s satisfied with them, causing a lot of trouble with rent, so Van has been trying his best to save money to support his dad. It’s kinda saddening though, because this is exactly what Another World Van’s father knew it would be like and that’s why he chose the path of money instead of his dream. However, I guess there are positives and negatives to both lives, nothing can be perfect. I think it was great that he was supportive of Van leaving to see the world instead of staying and worrying over this hole forever. On the other hand, lmao at Funguy, I’ve always found it pretty hilarious that we give this mushroom lover a random mushroom someone gave us and his head turns into a mushroom LOL, so he joins our party to seek the Frozen Flame so hopefully he can turn back, because he’s too ashamed to show his family what happened. Which is pretty funny in a sense, because when you go back to Lisa’s shop in Termina, she complains about how her Dad still hasn’t come back from his usual mushroom hunting, and how he’s really going to turn into a mushroom one of these days LOL. Yep, he really did lol. Starky is so cute btw hahaha. The big him that wants Star Fragment is so adorable lol. Understandable though, since he needs them to repair his ship when he crashed here. Love stealing some UltraNova off him hahahah. I never realised you could get a plasma gun from the sawfish in Arni with him though! Lmaoo at Starky learning thanks from the fisherman guy because he said you’re welcome instead hahaha. Starky seems to have pretty good stats though, might play with him a bit to try hahaha.
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It’s kinda saddening that in Home World, Marbule is deserted because the demi-humans were kinda attacked for the element resources here, so now they’re forced to work at S.S. Zelbess just to find a place to live. The only good thing is that Toma now has enough money to travel again and discover things like this lol. Wait, what?! I never realised that Nikki and Marcy were siblings?! I always loved the story of Fargo, Irenes and Nikki but I didn’t remember this part that Luccia tried her best to save Zelbess (Fargo’s wife and Nikki + Marcy’s mother) but could only save the baby Marcy, and now just supports Marcy from a distance, like wow, never knew that about Luccia! It’s not a surprise that Fargo has really just been drowning in his sorrows after Zelbess’ death and can’t move on, I mean, he names the ship after her and doesn’t really do anything about his own kids, nor does he do anything to help the distance between humans and demi-humans and instead fosters the discrimination by having them do the worst jobs and with no income, just food! As usual, Fargo is a cheater in that spinning game lmao, but in a sense, I always “cheat” too by pressing the pause button so I know where the needle is and then I can kinda pinpoint how to get the needle to stop at the North point lol. It’s worth it though, rainbow shell!! Anyway, I love turning into a cat by Sneff and running around lol. It’s kinda funny how Lynx turns into a white cat, I guess you change depending on your soul? Since Serge is white. The kitchen cat is hilarious btw, it appreciates you for being a cat that has manners by paying your regards to it by talking to it, so it gives you a present hahahaha. Gotta love the mentality where the cat thinks the ship is his hahaha. The sequence of events is so great here btw, it’s definitely my favourite story in Chrono Cross. I love how we can steal the handle for the magnet (as a cat) that lets Fargo cheat hahaha. It’s really saddening how stubborn Fargo is about letting the Sage of Marbule stay here as a janitor and preventing him from teaching the song to bond humans and demi-humans, the song would also save the dying Marbule! I honestly feel sorry for Sneff though, he’s such a good guy getting cheated by Fargo! Fargo makes him stay on his ship by making him wrack up more and more debt through the cheating! It was so cute when Sneff was trying to earn some money to get cat food for us (when we turned into cats) lmao, it was so cute. I feel so bad for him! Wow, you can trap so many great elements from the Sage! I spent a good amount of time doing that lmao. Otherwise, it’s great that the Sage is starting to believe in Nikki as he did with Fargo in the past, hoping that he will be able to save both humans and demi-humans with the legendary song of Marbule. It’s also nice that the Sage acknowledges Serge’s resolve to go to the Dead Sea. Okay, the Grand Slam was as annoying as I remember! Lol. Anyway, I shouldn’t have been cheap lol because the third round is so easy with TotalChaos!! Anyway, you only need the Wraith and 2 random weak monsters because the Wraith should Hellbound that annoying bull (I just run away if it fails lolol) and then it’s pretty easy to kill them. The second round took the most time because I was being cheap with my monsters lol, but I think Snibgoblin, Cat Burglar and the Lagoonate are great because they’re all relatively strong. Then TotalChaos uses Blackhole in the last round and most of them are pretty much dead! Super easy if you don’t try to be cheap haha! Totally doable with the default monsters, because I honestly can’t be bothered going to “capture” monsters just to do this later lol. 
In a certain sense, there is a bit of beauty in the idea of Nikki and them playing the song whilst Serge and them defeat the Lagoonate that have infested Marbule (since the song weakens them apparently). I was wondering why Solt and Peppor were doing stand up comedy on the ship, but apparently it’s because they have had amnesia since 3 years ago when Sneff picked them up and helped them! I’m really happy for Sneff though, he’s always wanted to get off this ship, and now that he’s paid off his debt (with his winning streaks at the casino without Fargo cheating him lmao), he can journey with us! Although, I find it really sweet that even though he’s free, he’s planning to stay here with the other comedy guys because they’re family and he wants to take care of them until they’re a bit more independent. Anyway, I can’t wait to hear the song because it’s one of my favourite parts!!
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purplesurveys · 4 years
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876
Do you own an oversized sweater? Yeah. It belongs to Gabie, but I think it’s also two sizes larger than her so it’s just a really big sweater in general. Do you like to wear sweaters with leggings? I haven’t gone out with that look since high school. Describe your favorite mug. I only have one mug and I’ve described it so many times on these surveys, so suffice it to say the mug changes colors when the drink inside is hot haha. What is your favorite fall drink? We don’t have fall but because Filipinos wanna be Americans so bad and hop on their trends, a lot of coffee shops here also sell pumpkin spice drinks and other fall-esque flavors during October or November. Have you ever worn your hair in a fishtail braid? Yes, it’s how I wore my hair during my high school graduation. My paternal grandma also styles my hair in it whenever I come to visit my dad’s side in the province.
What is your favorite season? Wet season. I enjoy the rain and class suspensions were always something to look forward to at least while I was still in school. Do you ever imagine that you are living in the Victorian era? Not really, because I think it’s mostly unsanitary lol. I just imagine how life was for other people back then, as I do with other historical periods. What color is your favorite sweater? Grey. Do you live in a small, cozy apartment? Change it to small cozy house and you’ve got it right. Does your house have a fireplace? There is no chance any house in this entire country (and probably continent) will need a fireplace. It’s honestly a very foreign concept to me and I know I’d be excited as fuck if I got to see a real working fireplace hahaha. I only ever see them in movies D: Does your dream house have a fireplace? If I end up migrating somewhere where fireplaces are common, I’d love to have one. Whether I end up using it or not I wouldn’t know, because I’m scared of fire and don’t even know how to start one. What color are your nails painted? They’re never painted. Do you like curly or straight hair better? On me? Wavy’s always been my pick. Curly doesn’t look natural on me and straight hair just makes quite a bad clash with the shape of my face. What color is your favorite scarf? I don’t need scarves here either so I don’t own any. I do have a couple of shawls; they’re the closest cousin to scarves that I have. Does your room reflect your personality? It has stuff I like in it, obviously because it’s my room; but I’d change so much of it if I was only allowed to. I’d give the walls color, move my bed to the wall, change my lights to something more sophisticating-looking, etc. My mom’s always kept a tight leash as to how my room is supposed to look like for the last 12 years, so I’m just waiting till I’m able to afford my own place for me to finally go crazy with my own space. Are you living your dreams? Some aspects of it. I’m not living my entire ideal life, though.
If not, are you pursuing your dreams? Yes.
Do you own a shirt that says "Never give up"? Noooooooo hahaha.
What are you known for? That’s a very bold and broad question haha, I’m not quite sure. I suppose people know me in different ways – as the foodie, the writer, the proofreader, the girl who likes Paramore, my coursemates would tell you that while I’m taking up journalism, I’ve hated it since freshman year, other friends would tell you I have a low tolerance for alcohol...it depends on what side/s they’ve seen of me. I’m never just the one kind of person to everyone.
What do you want to be known for? Overall I just wanna be known as a nice person? Like someone who’s been able to help someone in one way or another, whether it’s simply giving them a ride home or pulling them out of a bad place altogether.
Do you get hyper from sitting still for too long? No, my back just gets sore lol.
What makes you focus? Being in a coffee shop, having a laptop in front of me, and seeing a complete set of highlighters are a few of them.
Do you have any friends in real life, or are all your friends online? Most of my friends are from real life. It used to be the complete opposite when I was in high school when I had my own circle of online friends, but we eventually grew apart after we started having different interests and our favorite wrestlers started retiring one by one, until there was nothing to look forward to anymore. Plus it was difficult to keep up with the timezones – I was the only one from Asia so I was the one who had to do all the adjusting. It’s a lot easier to keep in touch with Filipino online friends and most of them are still on my socials today.
Do you have anyone who respects you in real life? I feel like this is a question for other people to answer.
What's the biggest mistake you've ever made? Letting my depression eat me alive in my first year of college. It’s not a mistake per se, but I still hate that it happened.
Do you live in the moment? Yes. I have my grudges from the past but I don’t let them consume me; and as for the future, I do mull over it but I make it a point not to stress about it.
Do you want to have kids? For sure. I want to address everything my mom did wrong and make sure I get them right, and end up having a great relationship with my kid/s.
Do you known anyone trustworthy in real life? Of course I do lol.
Which cartoon character looks the most like you? Right now, probably Daria.
Who is your favorite fictional character? From my favorite shows: Monica Geller, Amy Santiago, Mr. Peanutbutter, Gus Fring.
Do you like to read novels? As a kid.
What is your favorite thing about November? It starts to get a lot colder.
Is your life characterized by taking risks? I’ve taken some risks but my life’s not all about doing just that. I still like being careful.
Is today a warm and cozy day? No, it’s been a cloudy and humid day. All day the sky had looked like it was going to pour down so much rain but it never happened.
Do you like where you live? It’s okay. It’s quiet, peaceful, and secure and that’s never something to complain about. But at the same time I can’t wait to live in the hectic, noisy city. It’s about time I get a change of scenery.
Are people good to you there? I suppose when it comes down to it, yeah. I’ve never had to talk to them but considering we’re a little community here, there’s a quiet expectation that we’d look out for one another when the need arises.
Would you ever paint an acorn? Idk if we have acorns here, and the activity doesn’t really interest me.
What was the last book you read that you didn't want to put down? AJ Lee’s memoir.
Is Anne of Green Gables one of your favorite books? I’ve never read it.
Do you think red hair is beautiful? Sure.
What would you name your son? Something Spanish/Italian in origin. Think Miguel, Matteo, Lucca, Iñigo, etc.
What would you name your daughter? Olivia.
Do you own a Vera Bradley purse? I don’t think so.
Would you describe your style as eclectic? It’s the furthest from eclectic.
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lunafaeris-archive · 4 years
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@xaallo​​ said :
@Lucca "What it's like? Being married? Having a....fawn?"
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          “ It’s... ” His voice fell strangely short as if he was fumbling over what to say next. No one had ever asked him a question like that before, or at least never in so forthright a manner, that he had to mentally step back and process his train of thought. Part of him felt like the alien prince wasn’t anywhere within his bounds to ask such a personal and intimate question... but despite his incumbent wrath, his sin that made him prone to anger, he was awash with a sense of calm and humility at that very moment, lips pursing themselves into a thin line as he remembered when it all began.
          His marriage, while it may have been little more than a formality from a legal perspective, was a crucial turning point when his life began to change. He and his wife, Melody, were already mated before they had eloped and performed their nuptials in secret, they didn’t even let much of her side of the family know about what they were planning or where the ceremony took place. At his suggestion, they held the ceremony at the lakeside of a secluded mountain villa deep within the Italian Alps, far away from the prying eyes of the anyone who may have wanted to sabotage their union. And the queen had many admirers to be sure, as she would receive countless letters and gifts from adoring suitors the world over, hoping to secure a marriage alliance solely as a political gambit... but that she was the last thing she ever wanted. She didn’t want to marry out of necessity or duty; she made it clear to him not long after they began seeing each other that should the day ever come, she wanted to marry someone out of love. She wanted to marry him, to have him not only as her mate - but as her husband. And after the tug and pull of his own heart, the constant struggle to overcome his own fear and apprehension at the thought of marriage... he knew that somewhere down the line, he just couldn’t bear it if she wasn’t by his side through it all.
          So they were wed, much to the disapproval of her kinsmen and even some of his own. A formal announcement was made soon after they returned to her homeland of Ezra, and from then on he was a resident of the royal household, though that didn’t earn him the respect of everyone within her court. One of the few bastions of support he ever had within the palace walls was surprisingly from the one who aggravated him the most: his mother-in-law and head of the Queen’s guard, Ophelia. They fought like cats and dogs, but even underneath all of the childish insults and rough housing she at least treated him with a modicum of respect, even sometimes offering him advice when his mind was troubled.
          A few years passed, and eventually news spread that they were expecting a child. It wasn’t something they had necessarily planned at the time, though she had expressed a want for children of her own... a subject that he usually steered away from, that made him visibly uneasy. He didn’t hate children... but the idea of him being a father absolutely terrified him more than anything. How could he care for a child, when he was the embodiment of malice and bloodshed? He didn’t want to follow in his father’s footsteps, to be an absentee figure, or hell forbid for them to be afraid of him. But even then, his wife and mate reassured him at every turn, her smile a heavenly beacon that guided him towards salvation, towards the belief that he could be something better than the monster that everyone saw in him.
          He still remembered the day that their son was born as if it was yesterday, a day that would forever be seared into his memory. He remembered how furious he was that they wouldn’t let him into the birthing room, how he threatened to raze half the palace to the ground and turn it into a smoldering pile of ash with his bare hands if they didn’t let him through to be with her when she needed him the most. Then suddenly there was a baby’s cry, and everything in the world seemed to stop altogether. He could feel the lump in his throat grow heavy when they finally allowed him to see mother and child, as he sat beside his wife who held their new bundle of joy asleep in her arms. The child was perfect in every way, a tiny little boy, opalescent blue eyes shining bright just like his mother’s. Dimitri, they called him.
                  “ It’s something I don’t think I could ever live without, now that I have it. ” He began again after remaining silent for so long, his voice rasping for clarity with golden eyes staring listlessly towards the ground. “ I didn’t think I would be suited for it. For any of it. But now, I can’t possibly imagine my life as any different. ”
@luxconcordiae​ / @mutedbishop​​
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heartsoftruth · 5 years
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Neymar video translation
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OK, so I’m going to make somewhat of a translation of the video Neymar published on his insta after the accusations he r*ped a girl.
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Like I’ve said earlier in a post I think these messages are going to save him from these allegations, but everyone can have their own opinion about them.
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There’s a few cringeworthy pickup lines that we can read before the meeting happens:
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SHE: “ I dreamt about u all of the sudden I was on my knees. Long story short, I’m a prey looking for a hunter”
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SHE: “Oi, cause of my libido. Was working out”
NEY: “Working out for what?”
SHE: “Get that booty ready for ya”
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*girls send photos*: “Good night, reason of my wet dreams”
NEY: I’m already missing what we haven’t lived yet
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NEY: Happy birthday lots of good shit for ya
SHE: Thanks, I’ve already asked God an entire day to love you
NEY: Come to Paris
SHE: I’m headed to Germany in April, I’ll try to escape to Paris. saving money
NEY: I can help you with that
SHE: I’m kind proud but I wouldn’t oppose to see you
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NEY: “coming with a friend?
SHE: I’m worth four women, all of them wanting to please you
NEY: The question does not give me pleasure/answers me. (…) I just worry about you coming and feeling alone. But it’s already good.
SHE: I’m pretty much solitude chill
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Then Ney sends a sticker (this is already the cause of a lot of memes in Brazil so that’s why I post it), but it hard to translate. “I’m getting asleep but wish I was getting you" Or: It’s kind of a wordplay that doesn’t translate well to english, but “pegando no sono” means “falling asleep”, and “pegando você” translates to “making out with you” or “fkng you”.
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Now that we’ve seen the cheesy pickup lines and Ney also being quite sweet in my eyes still thinking about her not coming alone because otherwise she would be lonely. We move to the f***ing.
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This picture shows Neymar arriving at the hotel (Chegando) then follows with messages after they had s** where she says: you know there’s a come back, right? Ney: no there won’t. They joke a bit and she says: “theres still 3 you should meet. This was the calm one.” then Neymar says “Ofcourse we will have s** again. I hope its today ahahaha”.
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*with “there there’s still 3 you should meet” she means how she earlier said she was worth four women. So he supposedly fckd the first one and she said he would still have to come back to f*** the other 3.
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Then ON THE SAME DAY the s** happened she writes the following:
Neymar: Where are you?
Her: Hotel
Neymar: Im very crazy
Her: Come here ffs
THE NEXT DAY (also seen in the photo above):
Her: You have to come here earlier today because tomorrow we wont be able.
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He ignores her messages. She calls him
Her: are you still drunk?
Neymar: Hey, im working.
Her: I just arrived at the hotel, im going home tomorrow, find 30 minutes for me today. You will just meet the second one, the last 2 (of the aforementioned 4) we save for a later opportunity.
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Her: Bring something for my son, his name is Lucca, his a big fan of yours.
Neymar: I’ll bring something
Neymar: a lot of clothes
Her: Come and take them off.
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This last screenshot she begs for Neymar to come over to her hotel with some wine and a loudspeaker to “finish her off”, just moments before shes off for the airport to return to Brazil. All these messages (with photos) here are AFTER they had s**.
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According to the official document Neymar arrived at 20.00 on the 15th of May and the rape happened around 20:20. Now all scroll back to that first text pic where her ass was posted and see the time? On 16:08 he posted a photo of her butt (after they had s**) and then she asks the whole evening for him to return. According to her statement as well Ney arrived drunk.
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Now luckily Neymar is quite active on social media and so are his friend so this is a video of him during the day. Yes I wish he was drunk hearing how bad he’s singing but (thanks to the close up) you can see he isn’t.
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Besides that he also had a birthday party of Marquinhos to attended on the 15th of May. Where we’ve also seen a TON of videos of Neymar where he appeared happy and fun but not drunk or something. And when you’re already drunk and you drink even more it gets even worse…
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undefined
instagram
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Here Ney was already at the birthday party of Marquinhos (and it was still light. In Europe it’s now almost summer so it’s more light in the evening) and he stayed until the sun went down. The fact that she says it happened at 20:20 can’t be possible since he was at Marquinhos’s house untill it went dark.
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instagram
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So here’s the end to a VERY long post, but also one that deserves being so long seeing the allegations are so serious. Everyone can decide for their own what they think and how they feel like.
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cadenlucca · 4 years
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𝐓𝐀𝐒𝐊 𝟎𝟎𝟏: 𝐚 𝐥𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐡𝐨𝐦𝐞
Dear Mr. & Mrs. Lucca,
HAPPY THANKSGIVING. I’m writing this on Thanksgiving day in Bumblefuck, Virginia, at the nearby bar at probably 2pm-ish ?  So far I’ve yet to hear either of you, and at this rate I rather just see how long it takes for you to remember to call, if at all.  I guess I can’t really be surprised; I can practically mom slaving away in the kitchen now, hovering over Chef Jackie’s shoulder as she micromanages things she knows nothing about  ( don’t be offended, Mom, I’ve never seen you use the kitchen for anything but a photoshoot location for some Better Homes & Bullshit magazine ) .   Dad, I’m assuming you have yet to leave your office, despite it being deemed a national holiday and all. I can’t remember the last holiday we celebrate where you didn’t spend at least half the day there.
I’m sure the house is abuzz with everyone getting ready to host half of Pennsylvania for the world’s most stuffy Thanksgiving dinner, and I feel truly saddened I will not be there. On the bright side, the old man next to me’s name is Willie, and he’s currently showing me pictures of his children who no longer allow him to visit for Thanksgiving, on account of his  “ love ”  of alcohol.  He’s a hell of a lot more fun than your friends ever were.
Other than the whole  ‘ family holiday ‘  thing, I figured I’d just check in, and let you know I wasn’t dead or kicked out of school yet.  Mom, I’m not sure what kind of school Dad told you he sent me to... and Dad, I don’t even know if you know what kind of school you sent me to.  But you know, I can’t really complain --  you should see the girls here. SMOKING hot.  Dad, you’d be pleased  ( there’s even one girl who looks like your old assistant ) .  All I want for Christmas is a Costo pack of condoms.
Hope home hasn’t been too boring without me -- your son, you still remember me, don’t you ?   I’m the kid in the pictures hanging on your wall, surprisingly not stock photos.  I’d ask if you miss me, but I think we both know the answer to that.  Which is fine, because I can’t particularly say I miss Philadelphia either.  Maybe the cheesesteaks.  
Give my love to Rosalita and Chef Jackie. If this new school kills me, I want anything in my will to go to them. And Willie, my new best friend. He says hi.
Merry fucking holidays.
Your disappointment son,
Caden
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chlobenet · 4 years
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I feel like by the time Lucca “overpowers” Tommy, Tom and Gen would already kinda be together? Or do they not get together until the get together at Tom’s house? I feel like Tommy would tell Gennie he wants only her but she’d be scared of being the other woman because she knows Lizzie is pregnant with his child and wouldn’t want to be a reason a family isn’t together but Tommy ONLY LOVES GENNIE 😭
I think that it would be sort of known between the pair of them that there are feelings present, for gennie she still isn’t really sure what they are and it’s still so soon after john’s death that she’s actually feeling a bit guilty for feeling the way that she does. She will never allow herself to be the other woman which is why she was not with john in that way once he married esme, she has more respect for herself than that and so I do think that would also sort of put her off pursuing things with tommy for a while. She’d need a lot of reassurance from him that he doesn’t care for lizzie in that way. I think gennie and tom’s first sort of, admitting to one another that there are feelings there, would definitely be at the end of s4 when everyone else has left tommy’s house and she’s tidying up some bits and pieces. the first time that they’re really alone together after all of the drama of s4.
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{Collection} Double Trouble #3
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“…Sarcophagus’ aren’t supposed to open…right?” 
The question echoed in the otherwise silent space, known by most in the Haus as the Keeping Room. It housed a plethora of mystical, magical, and/or cursed items that found their way to the Haus--or that belonged to members of the Haushold after they moved in. The sealed room was monitored by a hand-selected group from the Family (namely those with expertise in the handling of such occult items) and access to the Room itself was strictly monitored.
The problem was, the people inside the room definitely had access to be there...even if a couple of them didn’t exactly want to be.
“Did anyone hear me?” Jax asked, a follow-up to his first question. He was standing beside Monica, with his twin directly on her other side--and giving him one hell of a glare, one Jax met with his usual annoyance. “What, Luc?! No one fuckin’ answered me!”
“Everyone can fucking hear you, muttface, you’re yelling.” Dot hissed, standing a little ways away from the other three. “Would you keep your damn voice down? Do you know what an inside voice is or didn’t Angelo teach you in class yet?”
“If he did, Jax missed it by talking so loudly he couldn’t hear the lesson.” Lucca didn’t speak often (Monica was the only person he talked to regularly, and usually even then it was telepathically rather than with his voice)--but when Lucca did speak, it was in the driest monotone the world had ever heard.
“At least I get to bring my papers to Momma for good boy points.”
Lucca didn’t miss a beat. “Mother likes bad boys.”
“THAT’S WHY I GET DETENTIONS ALL THE TIME--”
There was a sudden, metallic clang! a gilded urn bounced off the side of Jax’s head and clattered to the ground. He whirled, finding Dot staring at him with her hands on her hips.
“Did you throw that at me?!”
“I sure fucking did, would you keep your voice down? We’re not exactly supposed to be doing this.”
“Why are we doing this?”
“I don’t know why you or Jax are here, Lucca, because I distinctly remember just asking Monica to come along but if you must know,” Dot gestured with one hand toward the open sarcophagus. “I heard someone put a mummy in here and it would be perfect for the Halloween party tomorrow.”
“Don’t you have a mummy, Dottie?” Monica asked, earning her a smile from Dot.
“I sure do, our lovely literal mummy’s boy Horus.” Dot held up a finger. “But I never make anyone in the Haus actually work at any of the Halloween events, then they wouldn’t get to participate! And he’s just a little bean. Wouldn’t it be super cool to have a real, scary mummy at the party?”
Before Monica could even attempt to be swayed by Dot’s very obvious attempts at doing so, Jax piped up again.
“Aight, but back to what I asked before, his lid ain’t supposed to be open, right?”
“And if he’s in here, he’s not supposed to be out.” Lucca dropped into the conversation like a nail to a coffin lid.
“First of all, shut up, both of you. Second of all,” Dot turned back to the open lid of the sarcophagus. The incredibly large, intricately crafted gold screamed wealth in a past life...but also belied what most know about mummies--that if you disturb a mummy’s eternal rest, you could find yourself cursed. Was Dot willing to risk that just for a Halloween party?
Absolutely she was.
“Second of all...?” Jax prompted.
Dot swallowed. “Second of all, maybe someone just left the lid off?”
“Yeah. I’m sure he wanted some fresh air.”
Dot gave Lucca a look. “I liked you better when you were mute.”
Lucca just rested his chin on the top of Monica’s head as if to say, ‘she doesn’t.’
Monica had to bite back a laugh, both at the banter between siblings and the situation she found herself in. Antics in the Haus were pretty much the stuff urban legends and stories were made of; someone was always getting into something ridiculous or dangerous or ridiculously dangerous but it was admittedly rare that Dot was the cause of such. She tended to air on the more cautious side, which was partly why Monica had agreed to help her do this. The other half was straight up curiosity about the supposed mummy that was sitting in their Keeping Room for some unknown reason. No one seemed to know where the damn thing even came from, though no one had really asked. With a Haus this large, it was pretty commonplace occurrence to just assume someone was responsible and work the details of that out at a later date.
Dot took a few steps toward the open lid of the sarcophagus, which prompted the trio behind her to do the same. Monica was kept firmly between the young twins, who though they were considered pups by the majority of the Family, were fiercely protective of the woman they affectionately called their Mother. Jax was craning his head, straining up on his toes to try and see into the sarcophagus but Lucca was his usual reserved self, lacing his fingers through Monica’s just in case. She gave his fingers a grateful squeeze, hooking her other arm through Jax’s.
“What’s it look like?” Monica asked quietly. “There’s no bugs or anything, right?”
“...No, love, no bugs,” Dot reassured, her gaze on the contents of the open sarcophagus. “He looks pretty...normal?”
“Normal?”
Dot paused for another moment or two before she huffed. “I’m kinda disappointed, he’s not even scary looking. Or gooey. Or hideous.”
Now Monica was really curious, and with the twins escorting her, the trio came to stand beside Dot to peer into the sarcophagus. True to what Dot said, it was the most normal looking mummy they’d ever seen. In fact--
“Is this--Is he wrapped in toilet paper?” Monica asked, and given her hands were full, it was Dot who reached down to tug at the cloth covering the motionless body.
“What the fuck, this is toilet paper!” Dot yanked some of it off with a snap of her wrist. “What the ever-loving fuck is going--”
“...Hnnnnnnh...”
The group leapt back in unified surprise when the toilet paper wrapped body began to groan and writhe, but given it wasn’t tightly bound it only took a few shoulder shimmies before the paper began to fall away from the once-obscured features.
And Dot about kicked the sarcophagus off it’s stand onto the floor.
“W-What’s going on?! ...Aw man, did Wade wrap me up in toilet paper again?!”
It was Bob, from HYDRA, who for some inexplicable reason was bound in toilet paper and left inside the Haus’s Keeping Room--well, not inexplicable. There was a definite explanation to his predicament and it was that Wade Wilson has the worst sense of humor of anyone in the Haus.
“Bob...what the fuck are you doing in here?” Dot’s tone was measured, but closely resembled the calm of the sea right before a hurricane. Troubled waters lay ahead.
“Wade’s been tricking me all month!” Bob all but wailed, trying to sit up--for some reason the toilet paper binds were giving him some difficulty, though the more he wiggled it was apparent Wade had duct taped him before putting the toilet paper around him. This “trick” seemed more thought out than most of the Merc’s actual superhero or mercenary work. “He even warned me this would happen, he’s been making me into a mummy for the last week! Last time he hung me upside down so long in Spider-Man’s webbing that I lost consciousness!”
“You need new friends.” Lucca commented.
Jax, on the other hand, was in hysterics. “That’s the funniest shit I ever heard! Oh shit, I wonder if Wilson’ll let me join in!”
Dot didn’t even bother, that was Monica’s territory. She was too busy hauling Bob up to a sitting position by his ear--but as soon as he was sitting upright, a DON’T UNWRAP BEFORE OCTOBER 31ST sign was exposed on his back.
“Come on, dumbo. We’re getting you unwrapped and then you’re going to help me and Monica find a real mummy.”
“O-Oh, thank you--W-Wait what?!”
“Yeah, what?” Monica asked, meeting Dot’s gaze as the taller woman turned.
“Baby, Mama needs a mummy, and we’re getting Wade back for picking on Bob by having you come along. Now Bob can say he spent time with you that Wade didn’t get to.”
“Y-You’re going to get me killed.” Bob quietly input, though his heart was in his throat at the idea of actually getting to spend time with the Empress of the Family.
Dot smacked the back of his head, leaning in his personal space. “I’m going to kill someone if I don’t get the mummy I want before tomorrow, how about that?”
Jax raised his free hand. “Luc an’ I are gonna come too if you takin’ Momma.”
“Do the Alphas know?”
“Shut the hell up Lucca of course they don’t, who the hell has time for their nonsense? Not I, said the current mummyless wonder.” Dot hauled Bob out of the sarcophagus with one arm, gesturing toward the door. “Let’s go, I think the downtown museum has a mummy or two out for Halloween, we’ll just take one.”
“This is a b-bad idea,” Bob stammered, moreso because Monica looked at him when he started to talk.
“You hang out with Wade, you should be used to bad ideas.” Dot quipped dryly, the group making their way out of the Keeping Room.
“Bob?”
Bob nearly smacked into the nearby shelf when Monica said his name. “Y-Y-Yeah?”
“You have toilet paper stuck to your shoe.”
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TGF Thoughts: 3x02-- The One Inspired by Roy Cohn
Thoughts under the cut!
I’m predicting it now: Despite the title of the episode, there is going to be MORE than one episode “inspired by Roy Cohn.” Lucky us.
We start off with Roland Blum, a new character I can already tell the Kings are enamored of, injecting something into his face while standing pantsless at a mirror. I will never care about these eccentric, obnoxious characters who take up more screentime than they need to. The only reason I don’t hate this scene is that it’s an effective introduction to the character.
Cut to: Maia in court. Someone’s allowed Maia to argue a case by herself! Her opening arguments are shaky and don’t land with the jury. I’ve also listened to them three times now and can’t make myself pay close enough attention to actually understand what happened, other than that a reporter was murdered (the return of “kill all reporters”), there may have been a hit man, and there are two separate defendants being tried at once.
Maia also calls this overly complicated and I’m not sure what is complicated. The idea of a hit man? How is that complicated? Whatever. Case stuff. The important thing is that the jury is as moved by Maia’s argument as I am.
Maia sounds like a student at their first mock trial. This girl made it three years in a law firm?!
Roland walks in during Maia’s argument and distracts everyone. Maia keeps going. That can’t be the best move.
Hey, it’s Matan Brody! Hi Matan!
Roland’s opening arguments are way more captivating than Maia’s. They’re also nonsense and idk much about the law but what he’s doing can’t be legal???
I think most of what I’m going to have to say about the Roland/Maia subplot is: (1) Ugh, he’s annoying and there’s too much of him. (2) At least he works better than past attempts at the rule-breaking disrupter characters (like Damian). I can actually see what the writers are trying to do and he’s doing that one thing effectively. He’s just ONLY doing that one thing. (3) Maia going to ~the dark side~ because no one takes her seriously when she follows the rules and puts in no extra effort would be kind of a compelling Maia plot, but also, it’s still a Maia plot and we could just give Lucca and Liz more screentime. Hopefully that makes this recap fast to write.
Julius brings in a candidate for the divorce law position. He’s another conservative lawyer, and Julius is optimistic about his chances.
And the candidate-- Geoffrey-- seems to get along with the partners. He doesn’t get along with Lucca, though. I thought Lucca was offered and basically told she had to accept this position last week? Did she turn it down and get put on a hiring committee? Was the role supposed to be temporary?
Anyway, Lucca’s noticed that most of Geoffrey’s clients are men. He blames his current firm for that.
Diane leaves the interview to talk to Marissa. Marissa’s got dirt on Eric and Don’s safari (which I didn’t think we’d hear about again!): They waited 48 hours to take Kurt to the hospital so they could shoot a giraffe.
Adrian is in favor of hiring Geoffrey and notes he’ll bring in 6 divorce clients. For those of you who have more legal expertise than I do, what does this mean? Is there any business in a divorce once it’s finalized?
Lucca disagrees, but doesn’t say anything until Liz specifically asks for her opinion (which, I imagine, Liz does partially because she wants to hear from Lucca but mostly because she knows that Lucca will voice something it wouldn’t be politically advantageous for Liz to say). Lucca thinks they should look for “someone who doesn’t only look at the men in the room.” Oof.
Julius decides to play rank for the second time in two weeks-- this is a “partner-level decision.” But Liz again asks for Lucca’s opinion to be heard, and says they should keep looking.
After the meeting concludes, Liz takes Lucca aside and asks her if she wants the job. Lucca says she doesn’t know. “Well, decide, because this guy is way ahead of you and I’m gonna have to vote for him unless you can make a strong case against it,” Liz says. I love how direct Liz is in this scene. She’s giving Lucca an opportunity but also making it very clear that Lucca can’t waffle on this decision or take her time.
Before he leaves, Geoffrey drops an important bit of information: Julius is at the top of the list for a federal judgeship. Oooh.
Adrian isn’t pleased with Liz. He wants to know why she encouraged Lucca to “rip into [Geoffrey] Payton.” Offering a valid criticism of a potential hire is “ripping into” someone? Okay, Adrian.
“Geoffrey Payton makes sense for this firm, Liz,” Adrian says in that mansplainy tone he so often adopts. I think he’s done it to male characters too, but he has a habit of adding the name of the person he’s talking to at the end of a sentence where he states his opinion as fact. Does Geoffrey Payton make sense for the firm? Maybe to him. But Liz doesn’t need to be told that.
Liz isn’t happy that Geoffrey is conservative. “Liz, you’re bringing politics into this in a way that’s not…” Adrian starts. Liz cuts him off to remind him that politics is already in this (she’s right).
“I’m trying not to let politics get in the way of moving the firm forward,” Adrian explains. “And this is our first hire since our fresh start, so I am having a second look, okay?” Liz counters.
“So. I guess we’re back to ‘who are we?’” Adrian says. Well, yeah, because all you said was that you didn’t have a past. “I don’t think we ever left it,” Liz replies.
“But you do agree we should be looking ahead to the future?” Adrian questions, even though that was Liz’s idea in the first place. (Also that’s supposed to be italicized; I don’t think Tumblr has been keeping my italics when I copy this out of Word. Apologies for confusion.)
Liz sees right through Adrian: “A future where Trump wins in 2020.” Adrian acts like that’s ridiculous, but Liz keeps going: “I see what you’re doing. These associates you’re trying to hire, and this partner. You want to bring in more conservative voices.”
“We’re hiring a matrimonial attorney, Liz,” Adrian explains in his explaining voice. He says politics don’t matter. But Liz (correctly!!!) insists that this is about the makeup of the firm, that this is “exactly WHO we are.” She’s right. (I am now using ALL CAPS instead of italics for emphasis, but only when I remember lollol.)
How did Liz Reddick become my favorite character on this show!? (Well, maybe tied for #1 with Lucca.) I find everything Liz does interesting. She’s smart, she’s strategic, she’s layered and flawed, and she’s so well-written and well-acted. I didn’t think a character introduced as Alicia’s enemy could be someone I like so much, but I was wrong.
(It’s interesting to me that Liz and Alicia were ever rivals. I can see it, because I think they have very different personalities and approaches even if they could agree on many things in many settings. I would also guess that law school Alicia was quiet and reserved and law school Liz was opinionated and confident. Wouldn’t surprise me if Liz was the type to constantly offer Alicia unsolicited advice about how she should live her life (or argue in court) when Alicia was doing just fine without her. I don’t think Liz does that NOW, but it’s something I could very easily see young Liz doing. And young Alicia probably acted distant because she didn’t know how to react. And now back to the show instead of whatever Liz/Alicia related tangent I’ve somehow gotten myself onto.)
Then Liz QUOTES AUDRE LORDE as part of her explanation for why a fresh start and hiring Trump supporters are not the same thing. Liz!!!!!!
Adrian acts like he has the same goal as Liz and a different approach to achieving it, but I’m not sure he does. Where’s the dismantling of the master’s house (mentioned in the Lorde quote) in Adrian’s plan? What I’m hearing is that the firm is going to become more white (based on promos) and more conservative, which will benefit… the firm. How is that going to dismantle anything? Seems to me like Liz wants to create a firm with a mission (that’s also profitable) and Adrian wants profit (and sure it’s nice to be on the right side of political issues when possible).
Goodie. The case is back. As I mentioned, this is my third time through the episode. The first time through I was mildly interested. Second time through I was checking my phone. Trying to write about this? Mehhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. Blum is obnoxious and ridiculous and SO LOUD and accuses Matan of being the killer, and Maia looks annoyed and doesn’t know what to do.
Even though I wouldn’t wish this man on Alicia, he’s the kind of character she would’ve been able to deal with and hold her ground against. Maia talks back.
Diane scrolls through Eric’s Instagram, dismayed. When she gets home, Kurt is tying ribbons on beer bottles because they’re celebrating his new job at the VA. It’s a job that will keep him in Chicago, so he can stay!
Kurt calls Diane “Mrs. McVeigh” which is kinda cute and kinda weird and since Diane doesn’t have a problem with it I don’t have a problem with it.
Diane and Kurt are ADORABLE together and I love how much we’ve already gotten this year of them just being a couple. I said repeatedly throughout TGW’s run that one character asking another, “How was your day?” was more meaningful to me than any steamy sex scene or passionate kiss or moment of tension. These scenes are why I said that. Diane seems like a different, happier, more playful person when she’s around Kurt. Watching Diane and Kurt flirt in their own bedroom tells me so much about why they work as a couple.
The only catch to Kurt’s new job? He was recommended by Eric and Don. Diane asks why it took them so long to get him to the hospital, and Kurt shakes it off like it’s nothing.
“I’ll be doing what I think is important, and it allows us to be together,” Kurt explains as he says he’s taking the job. “And that trumps everything else.” “Oh, don’t use that word!!!” Diane screams. I. FEEL. THAT.
I like how there are two cases filled with guns in Diane and Kurt’s bedroom/sitting room. The rest of the room is so completely Diane and then there are guns.
Diane takes out her aggression at aikido.
In the hallway at court, some man comes up to Maia and starts yelling at her about how much money he’s lost. “My money went to your pocket, you fucking Rindell!” he accuses. The way he says “you fucking Rindell!” makes it sound like “a Rindell” is an insult and not a name and it amuses me just a little.
“It was my father. It wasn’t me,” Maia fights back. You’d think she’d have found a better way to address this by now. It’s been two years and being defensive cannot possibly be the best strategy. She could try, “I know. I’m sorry, and that’s why I turned my dad in to the feds.” Or just not engaging.
Blum comes to her rescue. Now he’s intrigued: he’s gross, so he RESPECTS Maia’s cartoon villain father. He hadn’t realized Maia was a Rindell, since in the time between last episode and this one she changed her name on her stupid website to “Maia Hanson”.
It’s time for another soliloquy!!! It’s Lucca’s turn and I’m pleased to report that this week, we are talking bruise free!
“So what do I do, Joseph? Huh?” she addresses her sleeping baby. Then she starts singing and in the process gets a song stuck into my head.
“If I fight to take over the divorce practice, I have to put in even more hours, which takes me away from you for even longer. And I love being with you. Isn’t that odd? I never thought I’d be one of those women. But here I am, talking like the world revolves around you,” she begins.
“I feel like I’m missing out on something when I’m with you, and I feel physically ill when I’m away from you. But when I saw that lawyer today, I thought… I could run motherfucking rings around him,” I love that first sentence. I like that she doesn’t say she’s missing out either way and acknowledges that being away from her baby makes her feel differently than being away from her job. That’s not really something you hear people admit that often, and it’s why the soliloquy works well here.
“So, less time at work and more time with you? Or less time at work and I forget about the partner track, which I have worked my ass off for. And it’s not just about ambition, either, I mean, how do I pay for schools?” Lucca’s such an interesting character to become a parent. Independence has been her thing since we met her: She didn’t have friends, and, hell, she didn’t even have a boss. I still can’t figure out why she was working as a bar attorney when we first met her, but I would bet that the fact she didn’t have to answer to anyone was a big part of it. (Also wouldn’t shock me if Lucca didn’t go to one of the top law schools and had trouble finding a job at a big firm until Alicia saw her potential.)
She asks for a sign from the baby and the baby farts. Dunno what that means but it’s a funny way of ending Lucca’s monologue and making her realize she knows what choice she wants to make.
She calls Liz and says she wants the job. I think Lucca will be happy with that decision. Sure, she could pass it up and make her way back to the partner track (this isn’t the only chance she’ll get), but asserting herself now will show everyone, especially Liz, she’s serious about her commitment to the firm. And it seems to be a fast-track to partnership, so she’ll be making more money faster.
Anyway, I really liked Lucca’s soliloquy. I can’t speak to how hard it is to be a working mom since I don’t have kids, but I appreciate that FINALLY, someone other than Alicia (or Caitlin lol) is dealing with this question. At least based on what I’ve heard from others who DO have kids, the way Lucca phrases her options and the trade-offs seems realistic.
I can’t really figure out the meaning of the song choice (Lucca’s singing again) but I think it works.
Diane arrives home to find Kurt putting on a tie. There’s more flirty banter. Kurt explains he’s going to a cocktail party for work and he thought Diane wouldn’t want to come to a Republican fundraiser. But Diane wants to come.
“You won’t like it. Eric and Don are speaking,” he warns. “Are you kidding?! Eric and Don!?!? I have lived my life for this moment! What shall I wear?!” Diane responds. Just writing out the line doesn’t do it justice. Christine Baranski’s delivery of these lines is flawless and hilarious.
Also Diane CERTAINLY has a bigger closet than that.
Now Maia and Blum are at his “office” and Blum takes off his pants, does a ton of drugs, and reassures Maia he’s “not going to fuck her.” He doesn’t use the words “try to” in that sentence which makes me even more uncomfortable than I already was.
Blum tells Maia that you don’t make the story fit the evidence, you make the evidence fit the story. Yawn. You can also win by telling a strategic story. There are some arguments I’ve heard on this show (and TGW) so many times I’m just tired of them. One is that you have to represent Lemond Bishop/Colin Sweeney types if you want to be profitable, which is complete bullshit that does not justify taking them on as clients. Another is quickly becoming this “a story is more interesting than facts, so what if we just lie???” idea. It’s interesting, but didn’t W418 (Peter punching Kresteva; Vero lying to the kids) and F207 (Liz’s impeachment strategy) cover this? What more is Roland Blum going to add to this discussion? Because, entertaining as some of his antics may be (and I don’t even think they’re entertaining), is whatever point they’re trying to make going to be worth what’s sure to be a large portion of screentime? I highly doubt it.
Blum tells Maia some nonsense about how she is “in prison” and doesn’t know what it’s like to be free. Then he gives her a fentanyl lollipop. Go the fuck away, dude. (I do like that he seems to insist that Maia can be corrupted because he respects her shitty father. I don’t think I’m ever going to love this arc but that’s a smart way to mention Papa Rindell: As an icon for other pieces of shit.)
Blum also tells Maia about his hero, Roy Cohn. He goes so far as to say Roy Cohn lives on through him.
I did not know much at all about Roy Cohn, so I can say that this song does a very good job of explaining who he is. It’s also really funny and catchy. I’m on board with these Good Fight shorts. The animation in this one is particularly inspired.
Blum explains lying. I get it. He’s terrifyingly awful. Moving on.
Wait no not moving on, what the fuck is a “wet pussy” going to do for Maia in court?
Now moving on for real: Diane and Kurt arrive at the fundraiser, and Diane baits (though it doesn’t take much effort) the guests into saying offensive shit, which she records.
Kurt tells her delete the recording, and she doesn’t fight over it too much. She deletes it. (I wonder if she has another copy saved. I don’t think she does, but I won’t be shocked.)
Diane takes out her aggression at aikido again, but when the instructor tells her she’s hitting too hard and begins to talk (for some reason) about a Jewish conspiracy (I thought the cut in the promo was funnier than the cut in the episode), she realizes she needs a new outlet.
Badass!Maia’s theme returns. She’s carried the fentanyl lollipop INTO THE COURTHOUSE and is still toying with the idea of sucking on it. Maia, throw it in the fucking garbage. You owe this man nothing.
Is it really weird that, despite having seen characters in the courthouse elevator numerous times and despite the fact that the view out the window is of other buildings, I’ve somehow always just thought the courtrooms were all on the first floor of the building? This makes no sense, and I don’t think I ever registered that I thought they were all on the first floor, but it caught me off-guard this episode that they were higher up.
Maia taunts Blum about the lollipop and he responds with some sexism and by telling Maia she’s a disappointment to her father. I would hope to disappoint that scumbag. I can’t think of a higher compliment tbh.
Oh, the witness who was in a Bishop case and also played a role in Cary’s case in season 6 is here. Case stuff happens.
Blum asks Maia to act outraged when he signals her to, AND SHE DOES. Maia, you don’t have to listen to him and be complicit in Blum trying to blame MATAN BRODY for this murder.
I think Maia enjoys this little act of rebellion (and the approval of Blum) and oh boy, we’re in for a ride. As I said earlier, entitled white girl decides to act out because it’s just now occurred to her she can be “bad” and she gets a thrill out of it is a plot that makes sense for Maia, but also, it’s kinda insufferable. At least she’s working.
“I want to run divorce law,” Lucca declares. “You’re a fourth year, Lucca,” Adrian counters. There he goes again, belittling female colleagues by saying their name at the end of sentences! Also, how is it possible that Maia’s a third year and Lucca’s a fourth year? Lucca said she was a third year in season 1, episode 2.
Lucca turns her lack of experience into a selling point: she’s eager. Liz approves.
“You just had a baby, Lucca,” Adrian responds. Oh, my God. That sentence. That one. That is everything I’m trying to say about Adrian’s casual sexism. It is not ADRIAN’S business that Lucca just had a baby. And even if he believes she might not actually give her all to the job (which is sexist) he shouldn’t be TELLING her she just had a baby. I’m pretty fucking sure she remembers giving birth and remembers that she has a baby. And he caps off that delightful sentence with Lucca’s name, in that same damn tone he’s always using.
(To be clear I think Adrian having a hint of sexism in him is an interesting-- and intentional-- choice on the part of the writers. I’m just ranting about the attitude, not about the writing.)
Adrian decides they’ll interview Lucca like they interviewed the other candidates, and Lucca agrees.
“Ah, you’re lining up your women’s army,” Adrian says to Liz as soon as Lucca leaves. “No, I just want what’s best for the firm,” Liz retorts. Yeah, it’s a women’s army when Liz hires a woman, but a “smart decision” when Adrian hires a man. OK COOL NO PROBLEMS THERE. “Bullshit,” Adrian says.
Yes, because if Liz disagrees with him on what’s best for the firm and, gasp, thinks alienating female clients and passing over their own talent (because their own talent just had a baby) is not good for the firm, it’s clearly just a GENDER WAR. Can’t be a valid reason for that! Liz just thinks boys have cooties and wants the firm to be GIRLS ONLY because GIRLS RULE AND BOYS DROOL. Yes. That MUST BE IT.
Liz tracks down Lucca after the meeting and gives her more advice. She tells her to bring in some clients to prove her worth to the firm.
Do I think Liz is doing this in part because it’s advantageous to her for Lucca to get the job? Yes. Do I think it’s only advantageous to Liz because Lucca’s great and she truly thinks Lucca’s a good fit for the job? Also yes.
Lucca phones Francesca while simultaneously instructing Marissa to dig up some dirt on her competition. Francesca has a book club full of wealthy women in need of divorces (convenient!) and Lucca’s not above using it. I’m not even sure she’d hesitate for even a second.
Francesca’s totally on board and sets up a “Sip and See” where her book club will come see baby Joseph. It works. Francesca sings to Joseph, “Mom and Dad split and I don’t care!” and lollollol this child is going to have quite the life.
Maia and Blum end up at a hospital to claim illegal drugs (unclear how Maia drives all the way to a place before realizing it’s different from the place she went yesterday. Methinks Maia is more curious about Roland Blum than she’s letting on.). You know, I’m not even tempted to type out all the obnoxious things he does and says? It’s just the ones that pertain to plot I feel the need to type out, because the others are just outlandish stuff for shock value. I am quickly becoming as unfazed by Blum’s bullshit as Alicia was by Sweeney’s creepiness. And I don’t mean that in a “desensitized” way. I just don’t care. I already understand who he is and no naked extras or drugs or provocative statements are going to add anything to my understanding. They are also NOT FUN. I want to make that clear. I am NOT AMUSED. Let’s get on with the point here and spend less time on his antics.
(Wow, I was not this off-put by Roland Blum the first time through the episode, but the third time? I’m already done with his entire arc.)
I used to think “trust, but verify” was a Bree Van de Kamp quote and I’m just now realizing it’s a Reagan quote. Well, that joke went over my head when I was 12.
Why is Maia even wasting her time with this guy? Is she going to check in with anyone at the firm on this?
His “trial strategy” is to repeat what he said about lying. Cool. This was useful.
Diane’s found a new outlet: axe throwing. It does seem like a good way to get out aggression!
Blum exists, case stuff happens, Maia wears a horrible suit.
Tara, who has previously cared a lot about privacy, shows up at RBL to confront Diane. Naomi’s contacted her about the abortion. Diane denies knowing anything (and by denies, I mean she lies to Tara’s face) and subtly suggests it was one of the other many people Tara told. “This is supremely shitty,” Tara says on her way out. Yes, yes it is.
“Do you want the result on that Geoffrey Payton check?” Marissa asks Lucca. No, she just wanted Marissa to have some fun investigating!
Lucca goes into her interview prepared. She’s brought in 3 new cases, compared to Geoffrey’s 6, and hers (unlike his) are more than just divorces. (Again, I don’t see how six divorce cases is that helpful. Are these six men going to get divorced multiple times a year?)
Lucca’s also got some dirt, in case proving her worth wasn’t enough. Payton is a Republican, but he’s also one of the attorneys who prepped Kavanaugh. Lucca’s wise enough to know that’s some sticky content right there. (“Okay, let’s just keep politics out of this, Lucca,” Adrian says and I’m only noting it because, again, TONE.)
Diane picks up a flier for the resistance at the axe bar. Nothing to say about this, but it’s obviously a plot point.
Case stuff happens, there’s a mistrial (unclear if this is a good move that plays out badly on Maia’s part or a stupid one she hadn’t thought through), now we have to deal with this in a future episode too. Did I mention that this is totally disconnected from the rest of the episode? I’d be totally fine if it continues to be disconnected since it’s way easier to block out bad plots that affect nothing than bad plots that get wound into the fabric of the show. This isn’t a bad plot YET but I love everything else going on and I’m SO DONE with this.
(I should not watch Roland Blum plots three times.)
I think I’m even skipping over the bigger character based moments of that plot. They all involve Maia and no matter how many times the writers show me that Maia’s becoming more bold, I am not going to care about Maia unless they give me a reason to care about her. On a show where every other character is so complex and captivating, why should I devote any attention to Maia Rindell?
The Rindell hater is back, showing Maia what he’s lost. “What the fuck do I care?” Maia replies as she puts on her sunglasses. I imagine it can’t be easy dealing with constant harassment and she personally owes this dude nothing, but I’m not about to applaud her for telling someone her parents hurt to fuck off. And those sunglasses are ridiculous.
(It’s not the sunglasses themselves as much as it’s the way she puts them on like they’re magic and she’s the biggest badass in the world. This is like the X rated version of that episode of Lizzie McGuire where Lizzie gets detention and decides she wants to pierce her nose to be like the rebellious girl who bullied her in detention. The biggest difference, other than the profanity, is that Maia is an adult.)
Lucca gets the job! Yay!
Julius lets Geoffrey know he didn’t get it, and either Geoffrey didn’t really care or Julius is more opportunistic than I thought, because he asks if he’s still being considered for a judgeship. Really, Julius?
Diane and Liz go to deliver Lucca the good news. This isn’t Diane’s victory but I can see why she claims it as hers. Lucca’s holding the “if you’re happy and you know it” dog, and she is, indeed, happy. I’m surprised the dog didn’t start singing.
Adrian is waiting in Liz’s office when she returns from the 22nd floor. “So, you won,” Adrian says. “We all won,” Liz replies. “No, I don’t think so. Geoffrey was the smarter choice for the firm. Lucca was the smarter choice for you,” Adrian replies. What does that even mean? What does Liz get out of having Lucca in the position, and why is what Liz wants not “for the firm”? I need Adrian to explain.
“I told Lucca she needed new clients. She got three in one night,” Liz counters. “And the partners didn’t care about that. They cared about the dirt that she dug up on him,” Adrian dismisses Liz. Why can’t it be both? They wouldn’t vote FOR Lucca if they didn’t also think she was competent. From what we’ve seen, divorce law is mainly digging up dirt on others and not being afraid to use it, and that’s exactly what Lucca did (this is Liz’s next point, more or less). If the partners were dismayed about Payton’s connections but didn’t think Lucca was up to it, they’d just… keep looking for candidates.
“Play dirty. Manipulate. Backstab,” Adrian says. He says this like these are new dirty tactics Lucca’s pioneered at the firm, like LUCCA QUINN is going to corrupt the firm. PLEASE. Adrian has done all of these things. As Liz points out, Adrian ENCOURAGES all of these things. And what Lucca did here was mild. She asked for the job? She did a background check and made the facts look good for her? And sure, what she dug up was sensational, but it’s no worse than what they dig up on opponents in court on a weekly basis. That doesn’t make it okay, but I’m not going to draw the line here when this is one of the least dirty/manipulative/backstabby things anyone’s done on the show. (Also who is she even backstabbing?)
“So we answered the question, ‘who are we?’” Adrian replies. “Yep. Welcome to the thunderdome,” Liz says with a smile. So you decided you’re a firm that doesn’t know who you are. Best of luck with that. I’m Team Liz.
Tara’s being harassed by the press and Diane’s only reaction is to say “I’m sorry” to a screen and look at a flier for the resistance.
(Hey, does Diane get a say in who the firm is?)
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Sentenced to Guilt (chapter five)
FINALLY here is chapter five! The other chapters are in the “sentenced to guilt” tag. Can’t wait to hear your thoughts!! Enjoy.
The VA was delighted to hear that Kurt would be attending the memorial dedication in Seattle. What Diane didn’t know was that the dedication wasn’t the only event that was happening that weekend. Kurt was being recognized for his excellence over the past three months with Veterans Affairs. He spearheaded the effort to raise $1.3 million for a new VA hospital in Chicago and exceeded that amount within 90 days. The organization was honoring him for this achievement and Kurt, being Kurt, was dreading the photos and most of all the speech. He’d rather fly under the radar and get the job done rather than cause a scene with a large banquet.
With Diane still ignorant to this detail, Kurt finished packing his suitcase and stopped to put on his cuff links. His flight left in four hours, but he needed to swing by the office beforehand. Ten days had passed since Diane’s latest hospital visit and she seemed to be in much better spirits. Though she couldn’t help her desire to hold his hand a bit tighter, linger for a few extra minutes in the morning, or laugh more freely whenever they were together. Nights were still hard. When he would be sleeping peacefully beside her, she’d get a pang of guilt and retreat to the bathroom to release her tears without waking him.
If Diane was being honest with herself, she wasn’t sure how she’d cope without him for two nights. It seemed ridiculous to think that she had become so accustomed to his presence and that his absence could throw her off her equilibrium. Nonetheless, she was dreading it.
As he secured the second cuff link, Diane entered from the kitchen with a cup of coffee, still clad in her pajamas. It was 7:15 and the sun had only just rose to illuminate their bedroom with natural light.
“Sure, I can make that. But wouldn’t Lucca know more than I would? She’s met with them before...why would she ask for me...well then I’ll see you at 10:00.” Diane set her phone on the desk and sighed.
Kurt, who was waiting patiently to kiss her goodbye, chuckled at her sigh and pulled her into him. She didn’t hesitate to fold her arms around him as a familiar chill ran up her spine.
“You should come with me.” He whispered into her hair for the third time that week knowing full well she had cases to attend to.
“It’s only for three days.” She replied, more or less reassuring herself.
He pulled back to kiss her. She placed her hands on his chest.
“Be good,” she teased and he turned to grab his luggage.
Diane followed him out the front door; with each step she felt the emptiness in her stomach return, as it had each time he would depart for weeks at a time when they were first married. Kurt loaded his bags into the back of the car and approached Diane again, this time taking her face in his hands and pressing his lips to hers. Dazed, all Diane could do was melt into him.
“I love you and I’ll be back in three days.” He finally said before pecking her on the cheek one last time and opening the car door.
“I love you too.” She managed. And with that, he drove off.
Entering the house, she closed the door and let the silence set in. Judging by the clock on the wall, she knew it was time to get the day started.
The elevator door slid open to reveal Reddick, Boseman, and Lockhart buzzing with chatter. Diane caught Liz’s eye from across the room and gestured for her to follow into the hallway.
“So, why does Bracey want me on her divorce settlement? I haven’t even met her.”
“Adrian has Lucca on the Provot divorce and Angela asked specifically for you.” Diane eyed her colleague.
“Plus, it will give you time to rest and ease back into things.” Liz added, gingerly.
“Oh God, you sound just like Kurt. I’m really fine.” Diane rolled her eyes.
“I know, look, take it up with Adrian. And apparently Angela Bracey. Maybe she’s worried about you too.” The two women laughed as Diane headed for her office.
“Good morning, Diane. You have a call waiting from the State’s Attorney’s office about the Bryson murder. And I have some evidence you should see.” Marissa held out Diane’s mail.
“Ok, I’ll take the call but the evidence will have to wait. Angela Bracey has requested my presence for her divorce settlement.”
“Why?” Marissa handed Diane a mug of coffee.
“I’ve been asking the same question. Thank you, Marissa.” Diane walked through her door and set her bag and coat on the chair.
“Oh,” Marissa followed her, “And congratulations to Kurt.”
“For?”
“The award.”
Diane turned around, “What award?”
“He’s going to Seattle, right? For the ceremony?”
“Yes, but–what are you talking about.” Diane stepped closer, now fully confused.
“Didn’t he tell you? The VA is honoring him at a banquet on Saturday for all that money he raised for the new hospital. It’s kind of a big deal.”
Diane sat down in one of the chairs, frazzled. “I thought he was going for a memorial dedication. How–how did you find all this out?”
“I have Google alerts for pretty much everyone I know. Plus it’s all over the local news.”
“That’s why he wanted me to go.” Diane was mostly talking to herself as she put the pieces together in her mind.
“He has to make a speech and everything.” Marissa laughed.
“Oh dear God.” Diane joined her.
As the laugher subsided, the idea started spinning.
“Marissa, can you get me on that flight?” Diane urgently jumped from her chair and checked her watch.
“I mean I can try. But it is a Thursday flight to Seattle. I can’t promise anything.”
“Damn.” She looked at her watch again, “Do your best. Email me the ticket or any ticket you can get.” She grabbed her bag and coat.
“Oh and sit in on the Bracey divorce and take notes,” sticking her head back in the office she added, “And tell Liz I’ll be back Monday.”
“Wait!” Marissa called, “What about the State’s Attorney?”
“It’ll have to wait.” Diane called through the glass as she hurried toward the elevator. She had 45 minutes to fight rush hour traffic and catch that plane.
It just so happened that Kurt was late, as well. Paperwork at the office had taken longer than he expected. Being a government employee, going through security was far from grueling, but it didn’t help the fact that his gate was about to close. Finally, after practically throwing his boarding pass at the flight attendant, he stepped onto the plane and began looking for his seat in first class.
Kurt patiently waited in the aisle while the other late boarders heaved their carry-ons into the space above. He could see his seat from where he was standing, about 6 rows away.
Perfect. Some woman is sitting in my seat and I’m gonna have to tell her to move.
The line inched closer and Kurt could make out a blond woman wearing sunglasses and looking out the window. He wasn’t one to be easily annoyed, but after the traffic, his lateness, and now this woman, he was beginning to become irritated. Placing his own bag in the overhead compartment, he prepared himself for an argument.
“Ma’am, I think you’re in my–“
Diane turned away from the window and took off her sunglasses. She looked up at her husband and smiled. Kurt started blankly. The morning ran through his mind: he had left her at home in her pajamas, preparing for work and drinking coffee. And now she sits in front of him in a form fitting green dress and a sweater draped over her shoulders.
He only snapped out of his shock when the man behind him couldn’t get by.
“Here you can have mine,” Diane gestured to the open seat next to hers and Kurt sat down, shaking his head. A smirk had crept onto his face and he was looking at her in disbelief.
“How did you–get...here?” He stuttered still confused but so happy to see her.
“Well, I had to find out through Marissa and Google that you are getting an award on Saturday.” She crossed her arms and waited for his response.
“How did Marissa know?” He countered, trying to divert the conversation.
“The question is how didn’t I know,” Kurt shifted his gaze downward, “Why didn’t you tell me, Kurt, this is a big deal.”
“I wasn’t even planning to go, remember? Everything was crazy and it didn’t seem like a good time for celebrating.” His tone was apologetic.
“This is the best time for celebrating!” She laughed, obviously letting go of her exasperation. She placed her hands on his shoulders.
“I’m so proud of you.” She paused, “But I am worried about your speech.”
Kurt released his held breath and cracked up along with Diane.
Their giggling subsided and Diane leaned in to kiss him. Their affection was cut short by the flight attendant announcing they’d be taking off in a few minutes.
“How did you even get this seat?” Kurt asked as they buckled their seatbelts.
“I have no idea. I told Marissa to just get me on the plane. I don’t have a clue how she got the seat next to yours.” Kurt smiled and sighed.
“Now tell me about this banquet. I’m assuming it’s black tie?”
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